Steel Skeletons
by DarkDanny
Summary: Connection Series: John Shepard's father, Eric arrives on Rannoch to begin his new job educating and scouting the newly reclaimed quarian homeworld. Unfortunately, even on a new world, his past will never leave him be.
1. Eric's Arrival

**New story. Read it.**

_**Steel Skeletons**_

_Last night I dreamt, that they dropped a bomb,the sea ran dry and the winds had calmed. Skyscrapers fell, they all crumbled to dust, Their skeletons of steel were covered in rust_

_And everything I loved and feared, had all at once disappeared_  
_Oh everything I loved and feared, had all at once disappeared_

_..._

"Sir, you're next."

Tired, old eyes opened widely, lips exhaled a sharp expulsion of air as pain shot through his body. His goddamn bum leg was acting up yet again. It always kicked out on him at the worst moments. His was cane was buried deep in his luggage. Stupid, stupid him, thinking he could thwart Murphy's first law.

"Next please!"

At the beckon, the middle aged man groaned as he stood up and shuffled lamely towards the booth, cigarette resting in his lips. With great care, he leaned his arms against the booth where the helmeted form of a quarian customs officer waited for him.

"Hello." He murmured, dropping his bag on the counter. The quarian tilted her head as a greeting for the grizzled human.

"Welcome to Rannoch, sir." The woman politely returned, "May I have your Systems Alliance VIP Identification papers? I must also ask you not to smoke in a public spaceport."

The human ran his hand through his freshly cut hair and stubbed the cigarette out on the ashtray provided by the pretty little quarian thing in front of him. Wordlessly, He dug his hand into his Armani suit pocket and tugged out an identification chip for the girl to scan. She tilted her helmeted head downwards and ran the scanner her hand over it.

He watched as the woman's bright eyes widened suddenly and turned back to face him. He sighed, she obviously knew who he was.

"Eric Shepard," The quarian customs officer spoke, looking back up to the older human. "Any relations to Spectre John Shepard?"

Eric Shepard, the father of the renown galactic war hero narrowed his eyes at the girl and shot her a withering glare at the mention of his son.

"Do you think all humans that have the same name of another human is automatically related?" He hissed out, catching the girl off guard. "That's pretty damn racist!"

He watched as the woman's eyes went wide behind her mask. she begun to sputter out apologies and policy enforced by the interim admiralty leadership. Eric softened his look and mildly shot her a smile. It seemed as though most quarians shared a very common trait: They hated to be teased. Lowly, he begun to chuckle, earning a confused tilt of the customs officer head.

"I'm shitting with you, beautiful." He told her, much more friendlier than it had been. "Yeah, John is my boy. Heard he's become a model Huarian."

At the mention of the word _huarian_, the customs officer looked at him in utter confusion, more so at the mention of defecation. Eric sighed.

"You know... Human pretending to be quarian?" he attempted to explain to her to little effect. He groaned softly and rubbed his eyes. he definitely had space lag, he needed to go and sleep for the next 36 hours. Fuck traveling past the Veil. Ignoring the confusing behavior the human was displaying, the ever patient quarian merely handed his Alliance Identification chip back to the burn out.

"Here you go sir, everything is all set. Enjoy your stay and abide the laws set out by the Rannoch Defense Forces. Also, I must also ask of you to keep inside of the designated safe zones for the old cities. Many buildings have not been inspected and have become hideouts for smugglers." She reminded the human, who was pulling on his fedora hat and a pair of vintage avatars to cover his exhausted expression.

Eric pulled his duffelbag over his shoulder and gripped onto his briefcase.

"Sweetie," He finished, tipping his fedora at her. "Going into out of the safe zones is my damn profession."

...

* * *

...

If there was one good thing about his boy being with a quarian, it was that they easily stood out in public. It definitely made looking for them that much easier to locate. Although John and him had a long list of things they disagreed on ever since his boy volunteered into the military, there was one that he was most impressed by: Tali.

John, in Eric's most humble opinion. was marrying waaaay way out of his league.

He had never seen a quarian unmasked before her. None of them were brave, or stupid enough to do so. Until he met Tali, it never crossed his mind. They hid elongated necks, a quarter and a bit longer than an average humans, their faces, long and angular, the back of a quarians skull appeared far more pushed outwards than a humans.

Those eye, luminescent behind plate glass were just as bright unobstructed, but the clear blue iris and pupils were visible. They were an impressive looking species doomed to what they thought was a permanent exile to their suits. Little did they know just how open their greatest enemy was to a reconciliation.

He could make them out now. Tali was wearing her full suit. It must have been far too public place for her to expose herself in. She was standing in front of the relatively taller John and using him as a backrest. A duty that John did not seem to mind. They were talking to each other softly in untranslated English a language John had patiently taught to a very grumpy woman.

"_Marhna'Prince messaged me on the Extranet, Apparently she's looking into purchasing a building permit to open a new club up here. We should house them, it is the least we could do for her.." _

"_I don't see why not, princess. I could finish that spare room u-."_

Eric cleared his throat as he approached Tali and his son. He stopped and leaned on his cane.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to pick me up."

Eric watched as his son let go of Tali and grinned brightly at him. John stepped past his future wife and moved forward to greet his father into a friendly hug. John chuckled and pulled away from him and punched his arm lightly. John looked his father over, with a faint look of bemusement at Eric' attire and general cleanliness.

"Hey old man, you look presentable." John shot back, feigning being impressed by his father's clean cut appearance.

"Yeah yeah, brat, your mother told me if I went to Rannoch with hair longer than Tali's hair, braids, tentacles, whatever they are, she was going to divorce my ass." He returned , pretending to not notice that Tali had tightened herself up into a stress induced posturing. John shot his dad a hidden smirk, both of them took great pleasure in making his future wife so angry she would literally start bouncing and sputtering.

John rounded back briefly to the suited Quarian, his small smirk reforming into a wide grin before he turned back to his father.

"I'm not sure what they are either." John informed his dad. "but those goddamn things could poke an eye out when she's bouncing on top of m-"

There was a sudden high pitch wobbling shriek and before the elder Shepard knew it, Tali had pounced onto John's back, her hands gripping and teared into his hair and skin. Under the weight of an enraged quarian fiancee, Shepard choked out a laugh as he collapsed to his knees and tried his hardest to shove his pissed woman off of him.

"Jesus John, you poor bugger. you're marrying a prude." Eric said laughing at the sight of Tali standing up and over top of her mate,. She was wiping her gloved hands off as if beating up a Spectre was trivial work for her.

Beating up a Spectre. Had he been anything other than family, he'd have been quite frightened by her. John merely chuckled as he sat up and wiped his eyes from the dust kicked up in the tussle.

"Heh, tell that to Ereba." He muttered out loud, before looking up to Tali and grinned at her as if sharing a private joke with his fiancee. Tali backed away from John, bouncing on her toes. She looked over to see that Eric had a questioning expression slapped across his face.

"Oh.. ah, just a very good friend of ours." Tali explained quickly and as if read from a script. "She's actually visiting right now."

Eric looked from Tali to John and then back to Tali. He nodded and decided to drop the subject of a new friend in their looked as though she wanted to groan at the question unspoken yet.

"Hello, Mister Shepard." Tali greeted, attempting to dodge the question before squirming as she felt herself being wrapped into a bear hug by the older man.

"Lay off the mister bull, Tali" Eric grumbled, holding the girl out at arms length. "I'm Eric, Dad, or future Grandfather of your child, clear?"

John groaned at the comment. Tali on the other hand nodded in agreement.

"He's obsessed with grandkids, Shala." His son muttered to the second quarian who nodded and seemed to have been smiling at the enthusiasm showed by the other male human.

"Of course I am, they make good errand children while I'm smoking up." He admitted to the interspecies couple in front of him. "I'd like a little quarian running around the house for grampa, that way they can't steal my fucking munchies like that little terror I have now."

John rolled his eyes t the mention of Anna, his sister's little girl.

"Dad, This is Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay." He introduced, his military tone of discipline for senior officers returned to him. Eric shuddered at his sons actions and turned to face the second quarian standing with them. Darksuit, less hips, still looked good to the former first lieutenant..

"Well... Hello Madam." Eric spoke to her, his hand outstretched and slightly, he bowed to her. "Nice to meet you at long last, Tali's description of you certainly hasn't disappointed me."

The quarian admiral did not speak, her eyes widened at the blatant flirtation displayed just now. She looked from an embarrassed Tali, shuffling under what she came to know as _The Shepard Charm_, A warning giving to her by both Liara T'Soni and John's own mother, Hannah, who referred to Eric Shepard as "A Dog." John was red in the face for the behavior. John stepped forward and grabbed his dad's arm. He leaned inwards and hissed into his ear.

"_Jesus Christ, dad, you're married, remember?"_

Eric looked at his fun wrecking son and shrugged.

"Well, when I married your mom, she promised me one mulligan, when it came to infidelity. I think its time to use it when I'm still mostly young."

Tali and Shala stopped dead and looked at Eric who had just made that statement out loud for the group to hear.

"_Jesus CHRIST, Dad, She's an admiral!"_ John hissed even harder as he slapped him hard on the shoulder.

"What can I say? I'm clearly attracted to powerful women." Eric shrugged as if he stated the most casual thing in the world. As he rubbed his tender shoulder, he could not help it, he laughed as he watched John rub his face with his palm, clearly agitated with his old man's behavior.

Eric stepped forward to Shala'Raan and again, he extended his hand, a mischievous smile spread across his face. Shala'Raan looked at the hand briefly. She took it and clutched on to t firmly, looking up and into his brown eyes.

"Shala, I'm sorry." Eric apologized, earning a nod of approval from his boy. Shala however, shook her head and continued to look up at him blankly.

No... It's.. alright. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mister Shepard." Her rich, darkly accentuated tone whispered back to him.

John cleared his throat out hard, breaking he lost expressions in Eric's and Shala's body language.

"So where to first, walking diplomatic incident?" John queried as he took the lead of group and slowly wandered out of the spaceport terminal.

"The usual." He replied, ignoring the jibe and gripping his cane as he followed his son. Vagar's Hotel, "It's going to be a long trip from here to your place. I'd rather have a rest and not interfere with your sex lif...

Eric drifted from his thoughts and glanced away from his son to brief looked behind him. In that brief moment, he caught Shala'Raan's eyes, watching the sway of his ass. He shot her a knowing smirk and watched as the admiral ducked her head away, most likely dying from being caught. Next to her was Tali who was trying not to laugh at Raan's expense.

_"John,"_ He whispered as he caught up to his boy._ "The Admiral is checking my ass out."_

John glanced backwards briefly and raised an eyebrow at the old man.

"Get use to it." He warned his father, in all seriousness. "Quarian women have no shame about sizing up a Shepard, married or not, I should know.."

Eric merely laughed at John's serious warning, completely unaware of what he had just set into motion.

…...

* * *

…...

_They gutted the children. It wasn't propaganda spread by right wing Terra Firma fuckheads or that paranoid unit apparently secretly funded by the Alliance known as Cerberus. No. Eric had seen the hanging, raped corpses of children barely old enough to speak, let alone fight back._

_It was a clear message to the colonists and the Alliance that the batarian hegemony never gave any quarter to those occupying the areas they contested over with the humans. Unfortunately for the batarians, the Alliance was just granted leeway by the council to act in any means necessary to defend herself. _

_Those poor, dumb batarian cuntfucks didn't even see what came at them. When the Alliance sent in the dirtiest, most sadistic, most xenophobic unit to fight in the first contact War. The batarian chumps were fucked the moment the marines hit the grounds of newly formed colony on Eden Prime._

_The 87__th__ Marine Division from Shanxi. The only unit that continued the fighting long after that goddamn traitor General Williams surrender to those fucking overgrown insects that landed there unwelcome four years prior. And that was how what was left of the 87__th__ treated the turians. like insects, like something subhuman. Hell, the Vets of the Shanxi invasion had given themselves an unofficial badge commemorating their victory over the insects. A turian c__harred down to it's bones from plasmathrower with the phrase "__Mactaverimus ea quae numquam requiescunt__." written underneath it._

_The badge may have been unofficial. The motto however became the official unit motto reputation. What was its meaning exactly? _

_Those we kill are never allowed to rest._

_Never._

_..._

_"Mister Shepard?"_

Eric opened his eyes slightly and glanced at the time. 9:47AM.

"Yeah?" he groaned, rolling over and closing his eyes again..

"Mister Shepard, I was instructed to inform you that your team is downstairs and have been waiting for the past fifteen minutes." the male voice through the intercom called to him.

Yet again he groaned to himself. His team was waiting for him? Fuck, he must have overslept. Groggily he sat up and shimmied his bum leg out of be. He rubbed his stubble covered chin before he looked back up to the intercom.

"Get them some breakfast, charge it on my account." Eric muttered slowly, "Tell them I'll be down in half an hour."

"_Of course sir."_

The intercom went dead, leaving the human by himself, lost in his own thoughts. Eric pulled himself out of his bed and limped slowly towards the bathroom. His mind swimming through the memories of the old days.

He swallowed down his daily cocktail of pills. His anti rejection medications, mood stabilizers, antidepressants, antipsychotics. It was amazing the types of medications you were issued when your wife finds you with a gun in your mouth and enough heroin in your bloodstream to knock out a whelp krogan.

He leaned against the the bathroom counter and stared blankly into the mirror. Lost in his own mind as he attempted to shake the memories of dark days away from him. He smiled at the weathered image of himself. He needed to keep the memories buried deep as possible. This line, uttered first twenty five years ago was getting harder and harder to do, even with the larger and larger quantities of chemical balancers flowing through him.

With shaking hands, Eric pulled his pack of cigarettes out and slipped one into his lips. He closed his eyes as he lit t and breathed in the sweet aromatic cancerous smoke and exhaled slowly, his eyelids hooded as he took back in the sight he hated the most.

Himself.

That same odd familiar feeling was creeping back into his brain. The drugs artificial sense of stability and a mild melancholic joy was back again. with one hand he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stepped back, gripping the cane he left by the counter and limped slowly out of the room, still wearing a rumpled Armani suit and aviators that hid his eyes away from curious quarians.

As he stepped out of his hotel room, he wandered into the direction of the elevator. His thoughts away from his past and onto his wife, daughter and grandchild. He hoped they were okay, that they would finally have a break from a burnt out failure of a man. He hoped Hannah was happy and finally able to get away from imitating his habits to keep them close together.

The doors of the elevator opened up to the lobby. Eric looked up from his self loathing thoughts and stepped out of the elevator and stepped slowly through the lobby. There was sudden surprised 'Mister Shepard!' that cause the older man to pause halfway t he dinning room and turn back. There was a frantic scurry of a male quarian named Fel'Vagar, the manager of the C'eara Hotel, whom he had met several times since his first trip to Rannoch several months prior.

Eric's Gaydar went off as usual. It seemed since their reliance of the fleet came to an end, a new wave of a sexual revolution had overtaken the species. Gays and lesbians no longer felt that their attractions would impede the survival of an entire species. This was good. It showed a first step towards the return of personal freedom being slowly trickled back to them after the admiralty board signed a contract to return personal liberties a few months after the Reaper wars ended.

It was a great day when he heard that these laws were passed. It gave the relationship shared between his son and Tali a sense of legality in the eyes of the extremely conservative admiralty board that mostly disapproved of the love shared between the human and the quarian most renown by the galaxy.

"Good morning, sir." Fel greeted him cheerfully, his hand outstretched to Eric. "I've instructed the kitchen staff to prepare your breakfast before hand, courtesy of Spectre Shepard. I just hope it will be satisfactory for you."

Eric chuckled as he took the gesture of welcome and shook hard.

"I'm certain it will be, Fel'Vagar, Thanks. You know it's my wife who demands shit perfected, Me? I'm not particularly picky." He returned as he let go of his hand. Fel nodded his head, seeming to be relieved that Eric hadn't bitten off his head.

"That is good, I am afraid, quarian culinary arts are not yet up to galactic standard yet." He murmured, moving his hand on to Eric's back and guided him slowly towards the dining took careful consideration of Eric's limp as he opened the door up. As they reached the doorway, Eric stopped and turned back to the man, his hand resting on his shoulder.

Slowly, Eric smirked at him.

"Fel, do I have to spell this out in simple words?" he inquired with a playful condescending tone to his question. "Have I ever complained in the past few months?"

Fel sighed and shook his head. No, Eric never once lodged a complaint against his business. Being a quarian catering towards offworlders, it seemed all of his customers could always find some sort of fault with how he ran things here. Eric on the other hand seemed to genuinely like being there.

"Now shut up, go call your boyfriend and let me clear my mind. I hate being issued bloody grunts."

"I thought you realized I only had eyes for you."

Eric barked out a sharp fake laugh and slapped the quarian on trhe shoulder.

"Somehow I'm not surprised. I'm pretty to look at," Eric shot back to the clever man, adding. "I'll see you at the next Rannoch Pride parade."

Eric departed Fel's company, leaving behind a clearly amused quarian in his wake.

...

* * *

...

It must have been them, They were huddled around a table like it was messhall. There was twelve of them, both male and female wearing full environmental suits and their backs carrying retracted assault rifle. Among them was, oddly enough, a rather scarred turian who had looked up and met the stare of Eric's. He cleared his throat, causing the quarians to all snap up and stand at attention needlessly.

He snorted and shook his head at the sight. He didn't as for grunts, he asked for peers to come with them. Jesus Christ. Eric ran his hand through his hair and exhaled slowly. He would welcome help regardless.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, turian." He greeted blandly as he moved over towards them at a snails pace. The turian stood up and respectfully nodded to the human.

"My name is Garrus Vakarian, sir." The turian spoke with a tilt of his head for him. "Your son asked me to join your guard detail as a favor I owe him. Bugger still has to collect a hundred more from me."

Eric looked down at the claw offered to him by Garrus. Wearily he took it and gave a single curt shake.

"Nice to meet you. Name is Eric, Call me anything else and I'll make you get a second cybernetic mandible." Eric returned warningly. The Quarians looked around at each other. It was a well known fact that humans, especially at his age, despised the turians, as turians did humans. despite the unity of the Reaper war brought the two allies..

Garrus Valkarian, however, merely chuckled at the information giving to him and sat back down. Eric sighed as he joined the turian. He looked back up at the standing quarians, bemusedly.

"Sit down and eat dammit." He demanded from the jarhead quarians. "I haven't been military longer than most of you have been alive."

The unit sat down s order, with an exception of one of them, who still stood at attention. Thick fucking grunt was bloody impossible..

"Lieutenant Kal'Reeger, Rannoch Marine Force." He introduced himself. "Honor to meet you, sir. My team will be watching your back."

_Overeager bastard_.

John had warned him about this Kal'Reegar. He was obsessed with getting the mission laid out before his completed, even at the expense of himself and his men and women's lives. Reckless, overconfident jarhead. It transcended all species, apparently.

"Now that we're done sucking each others dicks, Grunt. How about we all just sit the hell and get this conversation over and done with."

He looked away from the scandalized unit and smiled briefly at thew pretty young waitress handing a cup of coffee and a plate of toast. Quietly, he stumped the cherry out of his dying cigarette and leaned back into his seat, sipping his coffee idly.

"So, what kind of dangers do we have to deal with?" He finally spoke, breaking the strained silence. Kal and Garrus glanced each other, both deciding who to answer the human.

"Wildlife is always a potential run in. However, we have reports of smugglers. Outlaws, pirates and gun runners moving in these cities unopposed since the geth handed control back to us." Kal'Reegar explained to Shepard, still sitting as rigid as if he was standing at attention. "These cities are huge and never populated. The Defense force is stretched thin trying to catch these bastards."

"We're petitioning a citadel orbital guard to cut the pirates off." Garrus started to speak. Eric however, merely held up his hand.

"No luck, eh? Typical." Eric finished for the turian spectre who nodded at the sentiment shared with the human. Eric sighed and leaned back as he again stubbed his cigarette out and lit up a third. He glanced up to see the quarian waitress returning with a plate of eggs, bacon and a variety of fruits and vegetables for him to munch on.

"Well, don't you be worrying your pretty little jarhead, jarhead." He spoke briefly in between bites. "We'll make it through this with no casualties if you follow my golden rule."

Kal'Reegar was about to ask what exactly was this human's golden rule. until he looked over Eric's shoulders and froze, his eyes widened. The rest of the Marines did so as well. Garrus glanced over and looked at the approaching mechanical being.

"Legion?" He spoke allowed, catching Eric's attention.

Eric turned around and gave off a surprise intake of air. There looming over him was damaged geth using his son's N7 armor as a quick patchwork. Legion looked down at the human, carefully examining him.

"Shepard, Architectural Designer, biological paternal origins of Shepard Commander." The geth sprouted off to the human who was looking at it with a sense of fascination not shared by the others. "This Platform has been designated Legion for organic naming to serve as unit cohesion."

"Legion, did the Commander send you?" Garrus inquired, unable to hide his smirk from Shepard. Legion did not answer at first. Instead he merely opened his flaps surrounding his ocular lens up.

"Yes." It confirmed. "Shepard, Commander concluded the operational capacity would be more efficient and failsafe should this platform perform guiding duties for the duration of your assignment."

Eric downed the last of his coffee and turned his attention to his breakfast, ignoring the interaction between geth and turian and the quarians discomfort being around the extremely intelligent platform.

"Welcome to the team, Legion." He spoke up to no one in particular. "I know we'll get along just well."

Legion nodded its head as if to agree with him. It was a rare treat for a platform to be accepted without question by a organic.

...

* * *

...

_This is Eric Shepard, lead architect hired by the Quarian government to do investigations into the how much structural damage this city is in. So far, for buildings abandoned well over three hundred years prior, they are in good shape. The primary building material used in the buildings I have explored is modified stone. There is some sort of mortar mix that holds it together but it still way this city strike me as similar to that of the Roman Empire during the second century. Perhaps I could encourage my future students to take this sort of traditional design route for future construction. this rich design is far to valuable to lose to the annuls of history.  
_

_There is quite bit of over growth in and around these buildings. The jungles of Rannoch appear to grow much quicker than those on Earth. Much more direct sunlight being located roughly twenty seven million kilometers closer to their star than Sol is for Earth. Speeds up the photosynthesis. At least that's how I think it goes. The fuck do I know? I'm no botanist. I build things that destroy nature. _

Shepard pulled his lips away from his old fashion digital audio recorder and leaned his back against the wall of what use to be an apartment building. There was still furniture in it but the grizzled old architect did not trust resting in it just yet. He took a sip of cool water from his canteen and wiped the heavy sweat from his brow. This planet was way too humid. He wasn't sure how in the hell John got use to the heat.

Course it didn't help he was still clad in a fifteen thousand credit mostly black suit.

He wiped his face again and tugged a new cigarette out of his pack buried deep in his pocket. His other hand gripped his horn rimmed glasses and quickly scanned the room he sat in. He glanced up at what remained of a cradle, weathered and over grown with moss. It's occupier dead and gone centuries ago.

As Shepard lit his cigarette he attempted to ignore the sound of a muffled sob and two separate voices attempting to get control of her. This stroll down a long distant memory lane had seemed have affected his quarian drones more than he had expected. With a long drag he glanced back down towards his lap and briefly gave the dead of Rannoch a brief moment of thought.

**CAAAAWW!**

Shepard jumped and dropped the cigarette out of his mouth and into his hands, searing it.

"You fucking little cunt!" He growled out at the noise and paused as he looked at the sight before him and found himself being stared back at something that crossed between a Bald Eagle and a fucking cocked his head as he rather large bird perched onto the remains of the crib and stretched out its wing span, revealing a sharply colorful down under it's wings.

He contemplated throwing it some of his sandwich buried in his briefcase, but decided against. Levo's and Dextro's. If his boy, John had trouble swallowing quarian bodily fluids than this bird would most certainly crash and die. Again he spoke, softer to keep the bird from becoming disturbed. It was too pretty and powerful to just disturb it like the asshole sentient being that he was.

_Animal life appears to be quite abundant. I imagine much was lost during the Morning war, Perhaps this species of avian type animals were first nurtured by the Geth in an attempt to mimic what life was once like before the war. Perhaps the geth became conversationalist. As a personal record, I feel it's my duty for any naysayers over the Geth treaties to say that with the capabilities the Geth had, they could have easily strip mined this pretty little planet in a century. Hard to believe the Geth have a sense of morality more white than that of organic life. _

Eric sighed as he let go of the recorder, adding to himself. "I always said robots were fucking awesome."

He rubbed his face as again he heard the sound of gently weeping come from the other room. He ignored it the best he could and continued his personal recordings.

_My team is clumsy, as expected from grunts. They are ether too uninterested in what I need to pay attention to or too overemotional that it makes them linger on the little things I have no time to linger on. Hence the reason I'm sitting on my ass in bloody nursery while some maternal grunt is bawling her damn fool eyes out. Honestly, I cannot blame them for the latter of the two. Who knows, perhaps they have stumbled over hallow ground of their ancestors._

_Speaking of which, our Geth guide, the one known as Legion led us towards the regional Graveyard for those lost in the Morning War. The site was immense, so much so that there is distinct evidence that the geth builders had to tear down buildings surrounding the sight for roughly eight city blocks in order to bury just over twenty million. Not only that, they buried everything. From quarians to even their pets, all the registered pets with their own district grave markings according to both Kal'Reegar and Legion._

_I asked what became of the buildings, if they had built a scrapyard. He said no, that would be too wasteful. Instead the sons of bitches took the material and rebuilt the portions removed to the south entrance of the city. They tore it down transported it and rebuilt the goddamn things. If I had team of Legion's working for me, we'd be giving bloody contracts in the goddamn Terminus systems._

"Ah, Eric. Busy?"

Eric stopped his recording and looked to silently greet the turian Spectre standing in the doorway. He slipped the recorder back into his bag and stood up, taking one final drag of his dying cigarette before dropping and stomping on it. The bird cried out in a violent protest of its disturbance. Eric watched it as it fled the confines of the small room and out into the freedom of the city.

"No." He murmured, glancing around the turian's shoulder. "I'm just waiting on the girl to pull herself together."

Garrus gave off the equivalent of a turian sigh. He nodded, as if sympathizing with the annoyance the human had for the situation he was know dealing with.

"She's barely twenty, first time into the restricted zones." The spectre explained slowly as he looked back at the direction he the low whispering came from. "Her family records show her Ancestors were once business owners in this city. I guess it overwhelmed her."

Eric ignored the the pity story and started to pace as he sucked on his smoke. His behavior confounded the turian.

"You know, from your son's behavior, You're not exactly what I expected out of his father." Garrus observed quietly. Eric stopped pacing impatiently and turned back towards the Spectre.

"Oh? What exactly had you expected out of me?" He demanded, crossing his arms and leaving his cigarette dangling from his lips.

"I don't know, compassion." The turian returned, obviously trying to control his temper. "Shepard always has time for it. At least you could try it."

"I'm plenty compassionate, when I'm on my off time." Eric corrected the kid. "I'm not a buddy when I work. I'm a boss, and a pretty lenient one at that. I've been sitting here for the past forty minute listening to some overemotional grunt cry her eyes out. So excuse me for my behavior, Spectre Vakarian."

Shepard looked away from the turian stared hard at the crib.

"Give me a rifle and this crippled asshole would be more useful than these marines." He muttered under his breath.

Garrus seemed ready to make a retort but just as he had begun to open his mouth there was a sudden silence from the quarians. Moments later the geth known as Legion entered the room and stopped before Eric. It seemed to have been agitated, it's flaps rotating back and forth and in his hands his massive sniper rifle was resting. It must have finished its scans of the surroundings.

"Shepard, Architectural Designer. Do you require more rest, or should shall we proceed with your inquiry into the stability of this cities infrastructure?" It inquired. Shepard eyed the geth up and nodded. Slowly he smiled and wrapped his arm around the geth's shoulder and led him out, Garrus following closely behind the older human.

"Sounds like a plan, Legion, lets get moving." He returned to the inquisitive machine, adding. "Say, ever have an interest in the construction industry? your people's relocation work was extremely impressive. I could use a platform like you."

**...**

* * *

**...**

Garrus had to have been the worst turian he had ever met.

"So, let me get this straight, okay?" Eric crackled, immensely enjoying the turian's tale. "My son came back from the dead and the first thing he did was rescue your ass from your own mistakes? I thought turians were suppose to be made of marshal discipline and thinks out his battles carefully, even the one's you didn't for."

"Well... No one has ever told me I was a very good turian." Garrus admitted to his best friend's father.

"Lemme guess, Your daddy didn't give you enough hugs?" He taunted the turian Spectre challengingly. Garrus felt his eye twitch. Hard. It was as if Urdnot Wrex and Eric Shepard were the same people.

The group was a a marching pace down the street through C'rath's main road. Legion led the marine unit, which had formed a defensive line around Garrus, Kal'Reegar and himself. They were acting like soldiers again. Amazing.

There destination was the parliamentary building which governed quarian local and intergalactic policies. It was more of a personal interest for Shepard to check out. The interim quarian government was deadset on building the structure he had planned for them. As much of an honor it was for him, he still felt ignoring the past and focusing solely on a future was a misstep that could cause more trouble then anyone could imagine.

Besides. He wanted to see the exact spot where the quarians nearly sealed their doom for the genocide orders against the geth.

"Nevermind." Garrus sighed, rubbing his chin. "I can see where John got his manners from now."

Eric merely barked out a loud laugh.

"John gets his military from his warmonging bitch of a Momma and his mouth from his daddy." Eric spoke proudly, a slight smirk across his face.

"But... you served right?" Kal'Reegar spoke up, breaking his silence and watch over his unit. Shepard nodded to the quarian grunt.

"Yeah, I was at first contact, I was 21 year old wide eyed Corperal. Nearly shit in my fucking BDU's when I saw your ugly species for the first time." Eric admitted, pointing to Garrus and chuckling. Garrus smirked and returned the laugh.

"That where you got your limp from, sir?" Kal pressed on questioning him, glancing downwards at his bum leg.

"Limp?" He glanced back down to his bum leg and shook his head. "Nah, Got that several years into my service. Batarians blew my leg off when we were stealing the fucking Verge back from their greedy little hands. Managed to sew this mostly useless fucker back on, though. As soon as I could walk, I got drunk, found my Division CO and punched his fucking lights out. Asshole said what happened to my unit was _Acceptable losses_."

Eric sighed and ignored Kal as he turned his helmet back to him with slight curious tilt.

"Did my three years in the brig back on Earth, collected my pay and became an architect." He finished, lamely. he shrugged, his story was over, why continue on?

The turian frowned and slowly, he nodded his head. "By the way you talk, I can imagine you have no love for the military then?" He asked the human.

"You're right, I don't." Eric shot back to the turian. "Whether you're human, quarian or turian, you still amount to the same goddamn thing: Cannon fodder. Why throw you life away for people who use you to further their agenda?"

Kal and Garrus stared at the human, shocked by the bitter words the human muttered. This sort of unpatriotic talk was borderline unheard of by quarians and turians.

"They can wave their fucking flags and sprout their manifest destiny ideology all they like, it still costs the men who fight their one and only life." He pressed on to the shocked aliens. "I didn't want my boy following my footsteps."

Eric sighed and shook his head lowly. He looked up,meeting Garrus' beady eyes.

"So," He continued. "Yeah, Hearing that my wife was actively recruiting my son into joining the fucking core, wasn't something pleasant to swallow. John..."

He thought of the many talents John honed over the years of his hand taught education he gave his son. He wanted John to be an artist, he wanted him to be a writer, a musician, hell, he'd settle on John being an accountant or a banker. He would have preferred his boy do anything but become seduced into military existence. Those were bad days for his marriage. Eric was on the verge of divorcing his wife for what she set in motion, for what happened after Torfan. That was until his suicide attempt at least.

"Sounds like you were genuine in your feelings for keeping John out of it." Garrus spoke, ripping Eric from his self loathing. Eric stopped walking and reached into his pocket. He was craving a cigarette to divert his thoughts.

"Maybe; or perhaps I'm just the stupid douchebag dope fiend who makes no sense as many see me as." Eric finally returned as he exhaled smoke "I don't fucking kno-.

There was a deafening crack and a sudden searing flash of sheer pain that entered him and overwhelmed his nerves for a brief second. Eric looked down and a hole straight through the side of his stomach. The cigarette in his hand fell and hit the pavement.

No one noticed: Not at first at least, Garrus Kal, Legion and the quarian team had their rife scoped raised, all of them too busy with scanning the many windows and vantage points that the abandoned city had to offer them He allowed a harsh gurgling cough to escape his throat, he felt the texture of copper wash over his tastebuds as blood dripped out of his mouth.

He exhaled hard, his eyes drooped half open. He was a dead man standing.

"THE FUCKER IS UP THERE!" He heard Garrus say and then turned back to check the group. What he found instead was dying man staring back at him. Garrus opened his mandibles and widened his eyes. In a flash he was rushing to his best friends father's side.

"Shepard? MEDIC!" He roared out as he bolted towards the architect.

The turian however did not get to him in time. Eric collapsed under his own weight. He ignored it as he attempted to clutch the wound fruitlessly. There was a sudden eruption gunfire that peppered the building the sniper came from. Just the there was a roar of return fire as the singe sniper turned into a whole unit of enemies trying to kill them all.

Shepard felt himself being tugged on the ground by claws attached to strong arms. He felt his body being cradled by a Spectre, attempting to keep him from drowning in his own blood. Eric needed to say something, anything. He just could not. His eyes darted wild across the turians face as if begging him silently to help. All the turian could do was clutch the wound that now flowed freely through the cracks of his claws and looked helplessly on at the human he had failed to protect.

"Fall back into cover, this is a damn ambush, we're out gunned!" Kal'Reegar screamed out to his marines. Eric however was no longer able to focus on it.

Eric glanced away from the near catatonic Turian weakly and, through fading vision, he made out the metallic figure with a single ocular flash lenses looming over him like a guardian angel. He closed his eyes and entered the world of Morpheus.

**...**

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**...**

**First, thanks to Sergius for helping me deal with the latin phrase in the story and keeping me on track with PM's and such..**

**Okay, that was part 1 of 4 of Steel Skeletons. I Hope you enjoyed. This story is an explanation of Shepard's father. What his motivations are, why he acts so strange, what kind of man he is. Further detail will continue on throughout the story and yes, there will be more Talimance. Much more in the next two then this one however. Just a few things to clear up before I go**

**1/ Marhna'Prince: Marhna will become a central character in my next series for this oneshot series I have going on. She goes on her pilgrimage five years after human first contact and meets a decedent human club owner attempting to create the first human ran club on the citadel, When he finds her, she's as pathetic as most quarians on pilgrimage. When she's finished her education, she becomes a quarian with too much time, power and credits on her hands This is a story of what happens when Human decadence and power falls into the hands of a cynical Quarian .**

**2/ Ereba: If you haven't read "Happy Birthday Tali!" Go do it.**

**Ok, enough. review please. I know you lot read it. :)**

**PS: Song lyrics written by Dallas Green aka City and Colour. Song is called Silver and Gold.**


	2. Eric's Past

**Originally I had intended for this story to have been a threeshot. I was wrong, it's going to be a chapter longer. Hope you enjoy!**

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_Colors were drained straight from the sky and nothing living had survived_  
_The mountains were merely removed from the earth, Silver and gold had lost all its worth_

_And everything I loved and feared... had all at once... disappeared_  
_Oh everything I loved and feared... had all at once... disappeared_

**...**

* * *

**...  
**

_Where am I?_

His eyes opened by themselves. There was no thought to do so. They opened by themselves. He was not breathing consciously, yet he was. The scent on the air was ash, ash and blood. He remembered where he was. Oh god... Not here again.

_Not Shanxi... Please God...Not Shanxi_

"Two hundred forty five dead in under an hour. With three casualties on your side." A commanding voice called out, sounding surprised, dazed, lost. "I have to admit this, I am impressed with your command style."

Shanxi... He... He was back in his memories.

He felt himself turned around and found himself staring at two men. One, a disheveled looking turian officer. His armor scarred and and damaged from he engagement only just finished. ext to him was a fine dressed men. Not wearing body armor, but rather his officer uniform. He pulled off his officer cap and set it on the table, a well groomed blonde hair had a hand run through it as he gently smiled to the turian. Eric watched as the human sipped his tea.

"Thank you for the compliment, Major Sardonus." The human returned as he set his cup down. "My men have been regimented this sort of training the moment they left the training grounds. I must admit however, I am equally impressed with the doctrine displayed by your men. Not one step back. I have not seen such a display since my officer training. They are tactics my comrades do not have the stomach for."

_Tactics you would use to destroy...you... you fucking monster._

Gracefully, the human lifted his knife and fork up and dug into the food, a simple prepared salad and Roast Beef. How he managed to get such a delicacy, Eric would never know. The Major too had a plate of food in front of him, less appealing, but edible for the turian nonetheless.

"Please, eat. You have earned it for your struggle." The Staff Commander requested, nodding his head and gesturing to the turian meal sitting in front of the Major. "I am sorry that it's not much, but it's all we could gather on raids."

The turian Major looked down at his plate and ale. He exhaled unsteadily and looked back up. He shook his head.

"My men have died valiantly, I do still wish I had fallen with them." The Major murmured mournfully, looking down "I have no right to eat while surrounded by my dead."

The Staff Commander raised an eyebrow and leaned over. Ignoring the flinch from the half broken turian, he patted his shoulder. A gesture of understanding.

_How could he have been so stupid to believe in this facade of his?_

"Come now, Major Sardonus, one must eat to maintain their strength." He exclaimed warmly, still maintain a friendly look for his beaten foe. "Dying on the battlefield was not a part of the plan. You must be sent back as a message to your superiors."

Staff Commander Jürgen Metzger pushed the plate closer to Sardonus, who looked at it reproachfully.

"Please, I must insist you join me." He requested once at first to do so, Sardonus nodded, he raised the utensil on the side of the plate and dug in, his mandibles flapping slightly.

_Maybe I can change this. This is a dream right? I can change how this goes. All... All that I have to do is shoot him... Shoot him or scream at him not to do this..._

But he couldn't.

Eric silently watched as Sardonus and Metzger quietly ate together, only pausing to exchange brief tales of their military activities during the engagement on Shanxi. They would occasionally share a laugh and bonded despite the many differences setting the two species far apart.

Silently he turned to look over at Private Aashritha Latesh standing next to him, her face grim covered and her rifle raised against her chest as she watched the exchange uneasily. To her, there seemed something... Off about everything. Quietly, she leaned against him.

"Eric, I don't like where this is going. It.. it just feels wrong." She breathed so they weren't overheard. Eric did not reply, instead he simply stood there and watched the exchange between his commanding officer and the enemy.

"There's nothing to like about this, Latesh." He agreed with an equal whisper. "However there is reason to everything the CO does."

As dinner wrapped up and they were down to sipping on the drinks, left last. The Commander reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He offered one to his turian counterpart, who shook his head. As he lit one, inhaling the ashy smoke, Metzger turned his head away from Sardonus and into Eric's direction.

"Corporal Shepard." The Commander spoke to the younger man, setting his fork and knife down as he finished the last of his dinner. Eric felt the body he inhabited step forward to the officers and snapped to a crisp attention.

_Do it... You can save him... I believe in you. This course was not inevitable, neither is it in a dream. There were a hundred different ways to have prevented this... but you didn't... You were just following orders... You were no better than he is._

"Yes sir?" The Corporal inquired. Not even aware that a struggle for his soul was being waged.

The Commander nodded his head and exhaled, smiling to his subordinate.

"Good disciplined form, don't you agree, Major Sardonus?" The human simply spoke to the turian. "Flexible, but disciplined is the best soldier you can have." The turian Major inspected the Corporal and nodded in approval. With a slight sigh, the human commander stood up and clicked his boots together and nodded respectfully to his enemy.

_You Bastard, you helpless fool bastard. He was a trickster, a manipulator, a user. Your mind told you this was wrong, that he was wrong yet you did it anyway._

"Major Sardonus." He started, his hand outstretched towards the Major. "It was an honor to have dined with you. Perhaps one day our species will be friends and comrades on the battlefields. I hope you will convey this message to them."

The turian stood up as well and nodded, taking the hand offered by his advisory uncertainly.

"The honor is mine" Sardonus rumbled, shaking the hand twice. "I am delighted to find that there is honor amongst your people. Despite my superior contrary report."

_And for what reasons did you do it? Orders? Or was it a simple desire for him to be proud of you._

The human named Metzger chuckled heartily and hit the turian's shoulders. He turned back to face Eric, his eyes mirthfully light.

"Corporal, please take the Major and arrange a transport for him go back to the Turian High Command." He ordered, gesturing to the turian. Eric felt his head pulled up and down into a nod and his legs moved once again towards the turian. He gestured to the turian to follow, which he did.

"Corporal." the high accented voice of his superior officer called from behind him. Eric and the turian paused and turned around, finding the commander standing there, his arms behind his back as he inspected both his soldier and his enemy.

_Perhaps this time is different... I can change what this bastard says... I know I can... I just know it._

"We can only send between ten to fifteen pounds of the good Major back to them. Make every pound count." He stated factually as he replaced his officer cap back over his head and wiped the dust off his jacket. He paid no mind to the turian's expression of shock and fear.

"You promised I would be returned back to Command!" The turian Sadonus snarled out, trying to lash out at the Commander. Before he could connect to the well dressed officer, Eric's arms reached around the turian holding him in place.

_Let the turian go.. let him shred this smug bastard._

Eric... this Eric, would not listen to the voice screaming at him. Instead he merely watched as Metzger cocked an eyebrow and wrapped his arms behind his back. He strolled over towards the pinned turian Major and leaned in slightly. Still he was smiling gently, as though amused at the fear displayed by the alien.

"Yes, I promised a safe return, but not in what state." He reminded the open mouthed turian, He looked up to Eric and added, "You may proceed, Corporal."

_Don't say it. I don't have to say it... Please. PLEASE. DON'T MAKE ME SAY IT._

"Yes sir." Eric returned, nodding. He turned away and started to pull the screaming turian away from the Officer and to somewhere more seclude. Except a hand of the Commander's fell on his shoulder.

"No, no, no, Corporal Shepard." Metzger chastised his NCO Playfully "Right here, in front of the men. I am certain they would like to witness the spectacle."

He gestured to the ground in front of where the turian stood. Eric's head nodded and pushed the turian to the ground slowly retracting his Combat knife from out of its pouch. Metzger turned away as Eric dropped himself down and pinned the turian back, tugging his head far back, exposing the poor bastards neck to the edge of the blade.

_Don't do it... I'm begging you. I've killed this poor bastard ten thousand times before... not again. not again.. Don't do it... I'm begging you... don't do it... You're killing more then him. You're just killing yourself.._

"Sergeant Morris, I would like to have two hundred and forty five wooden and metal pikes to be created or confiscated from any construction site, once you are done, begin impaling the bodies. I would like the bodies stretched out for a kilometer straight, for our foreign guests visual enjoyment." Metzger commanded before turning back to the executioner and added. "Proceed when ready, Eric."

_No..._

The knife in the Corporals hand plunged into his victims neck, breaking through the hard skin of the turians. The turian screamed, his fruitless cries for salvation were in vain as they mixed with the gurgling of blood. Eric winced but ignored the screams as he continued to hack through the turians neck, splitting the windpipe and allowing air to spill freely.

Even as the blood soaked the Corporal's hands, still he continued to cut and hack. He ignored the cheers from his fellow men. He ignored Metzger as he continued to watch the spectacle with a pleasure not admitted. As the turian's last signs of life lest his body, Metzger turned back to his men.

"This act will be a warning to the turians of what we will do if they pursue a war they cannot hope to win. For many thousands of years, humanity has used fear as a weapon against one another. Today, we teach these insects that man will do whatever it takes to survive." He announced, earning an abrupt cheer amongst his troops. All except for a silent Shepard and a horrified looking Latesh. Metzger saluted his men respectfully and smiled.

"Now complete your duties and we shall leave for home. Know this: I am proud of each and every one of you." He concluded, earning a spattering of applause. The soldiers dispersed back to their assigned duties. Metzger turned from them and looked on Eric, a smile as he watched his corporal cut through the last of the turian's neck, forcing the head off Sardonus' body.

Eric stood up, exhausted, his arms and chest coated in copper scented blood. He backed away and faced his Commanding officer, Who looked at him approvingly. Eric's eyes drifted slightly to Aashritha, who still looked shocked and disgusted.

"Good work, Shepard. Bag the head and give it to the courier, Take the rest of the day off, you have earned it." Metzger spoke to him, proudly pressing his hand onto Eric's head, like a father taking pride in his son's achievement. "I will make you a cup of tea, we shall discuss your promotion."

_No... don't_

Ignoring the stare of his friend, Latesh, Eric's lips formed into a bright grin as he looked from the head of the turian to Metzger.

"Thank you sir, it was my pleasure."

Eric snapped out a ridged salute with his free hand. Waiting in place until the Commander returned it, Eric turned and marched away, not realizing what he had done to himself, nor the look of anguish written across his friend's face.

**...**

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**...**

"He's conscious, his heart rate is erratic but he's alert!"

Eric coughed violently and groaned, his eyes flying around the room wildly. He tried to move but pain shot through his body, seemingly dulled by painkillers.

Ignoring the eruption of barking machine gun fire, being sent to other buildings and the pounding of slug around him, he rolled again but was stopped. He could feel sources of pressure against him, on his arm, on his stomach. He focused and noticed a wounded looking turian as the source of the pressure. He widened his eyes and shook his head disbelievingly.

"N-noo.. p-please... Don't.. don't kill-."

A talon reached outwards and touched against his face. The turian stared into Eric's frantic eyes, a look of fear in his eyes.

"Shepard, it's me, Garrus." The turian returned, his voice broken with as much fear as Eric felt. "Calm down, sir. You're safe, you've been hit but we're going to get you out of here."

A body slumped down next to him on his knees. Thin legs, body suit. A quarian. She dropped medical bag next to the human and dug

"The Medi-Gel will help for only so long before he's in some serious trouble, life threatening trouble." She muttered to herself as she disinfected the wound site with the biological agent. Garrus growled to himself lowly as he maintained his hands on the wound.

"We need to get a blood transfusion set up, medic." Garrus muttered to the quarian as though she were his subordinate. The quarians head flew up, her luminescent eyes narrowing and glaring darkly at the turian.

"Oh yeah, I'll get right on it... but, please, tell me whose BLOOD are we going to use?" The quarian snapped back, her eyes narrowed as she focused on the human. "Listen turian, I have enough levo blood substitutes to keep him flowing for the next hour, maybe three hours if I really can stretch it out but what he needs is an emergency surgeon working on him. Something I'm not yet, nor can you find here. Now get your ass out to the firing line so I can get him to one quicker!"

A brief staring match occurred between the two. With a sigh, Garrus let go of the wound, transferring the pressure over to the quarian. He stood up, blood still on his hands as he dragged his rifle and went out to assist Kal and his marines. The Medic turned away and focused back onto the wounded human, her eyes softening into a gentle concern for her patient.

"Shepard... Eric... can you hear me?" The medic asked, her hands both tightly grasping the wound. Shepard stared at her, into her dark face mask carefully. He exhaled and nodded his head tiredly.

"I'm sorry..." He returned, slumping his head and closing his eyes. "I... I shouldn't have chewed you out."

The quarian chuckled nervously as she leaned over him to open the medical bag.

"Well its fine...I've been an emotional wreck ever since I entered the city." She admitted to him brightly as she removed a tourniquet and wrapped it around his arm tightly. "Mom and Dad told me this was where our ancestors use to live before the genocide, I'm sorry if it compromised with your work."

Eric did not reply as he watched her search for a major blood vein. Before he knew it, a needle was pressed through his forearm.

"Name?" He breathed out, rolling his head to the side as he heard Kal roaring orders and the rifle fire intensified. The quarian on him chuckled weakly and looked. He could swear a smile was on her lips as she heard the curious question.

"If I tell you my name, you have to promise me that you're going to fight to survive this mess." She returned, her voice crisp and businesslike. "I can only go so far, you have to do your part. I haven't lost a patient yet, not going to lose my first human one now."

Eric couldn't help it, he chuckled softly, wincing as the laughter pained him. He felt the hand against his stomach tighten and watched as the second hand attached a bag of blood replacements into the intravenous line.

"My name is Quawe'Quaera. Soon to be doctor." The quarian named Quawe introduced herself to the human. "I volunteer for the military operations. I' not technically a marine; they need medical experts. You gotta do your part you know?" She chuckled and ducked her head as she set the bag above his head, adding. "listen to me talkative to the point of annoying."

"It's fi-ne. Not..not many can.. can tell a Spectre off." He managed to reply, coughing with as much control as possible. She chuckled softly and bowed her head away.

"Anyways, I find that maintaining a constant stream of dialog between medic or doctor and patient helps keep the patients mind off the situation." She continued, lowering herself down to inspect the wound. "Of course my talking always tends to spill off into personal life." She giggled as she unbuttoned the human's shirt. "My parents, they hate it; I never give them a moment of silence. Well, I try to but it's never enough. My sister likes it. She finds the talk rather amusing..."

Quawe fell silent, her eyes widened at the sight of the various scars and chunks missing out of the human. He looked as though he was put back together several times. Eric watched the quarian staring at him blankly and exhaled slowly.

"Sister?" He rasped out again, hoping to turn her away from her new focus. Quawe looked up and stared at him strangely.

"Oh yeah." Quawe replied, understanding his nervousness. "Her name is Marhna, she's wonderful once you get to know her; She's kinda the family outcast; though, I figured she was probably just arrogant and hated our way of life, though, it really isn't far from the truth. Marhna is arrogant and hated the way we lived on the fleet, anyways so she left and I was allowed to be born. Suppose I owe her that massive favor."

"Cut the damn chatter!"

Quawe and Eric looked up to find that Lieutenant Reegar, Spectre Vakarian, Legion and a second quarian had returned the room; clutching a sniper rifle. Reegar looked away from the young woman, fuming and turned his attention back to the soldiers.

"Legion, get to the roof with Swaraa'Sevar and provide sniper support." He ordered to the geth and the quarian, He turned to Garrus and added. "Spectre, stay here. Keep him safe and be ready to open communications up. I want to see how big this force is before we do anything."

They broke apart, Reegar heading back to the frontline, Legion and the quarian sniper Swaraa storming through the old building. Garrus sighed and slumped against the wall across from the human and the quarian. Quawe chuckled softly to herself as she retracted a pair of forceps from the bag.

"Fun's over." She spoke up to the human. Eric gritted his teeth as the cold stainless steel pressed inside his body.

His thoughts fell to his son, who couldn't have been more then two hundred miles from the city. He hoped to the God he did not believe in that he was okay.

...

* * *

...

"Right there, Ereba. It's perfect.."

Tali moaned carefully as she felt delicate asari lips touch her neck; She watched with a thrill as light blue hands snaked around her and intertwined tightly with pale peach toned hands both now cupping her breasts. She blushed furiously as asari lips were suddenly joined by human, this time pressed against her abdomen.

"John... nooooo." she cried out playfully.

The sound of a quarian giggling never grew old in his ears. John smirked as his lips kissed her belly button and felt her hands explore his head now buried in her flat stomach. His hand reached outwards and slipped around Tali's naked bottom. There was a sudden gasp and a giggle that escaped the asari' lips.

"Taali... Your future husband is touching me..." Ereba trilled out teasingly. Pushing her pelvis into John's hands and Tali's firm butt. John sighed and pulled his hand back, only to hear Tali giggle once again and pushed herself back to meet Ereba, trapping his hand in a position John couldn't have ever dreamed of being better trapped.

Tali's smiled faintly as her hand reached downwards to raise John's buried face. She leaned inwards and pressed her lips against John's.

"Perhaps I am ready to watch him touch you." She breathed back to the asari, her eyelids hooded as she looked into John's eyes. "I've had you nearly to myself this whole time. I must admit... I'm curious to see what John does third hand."

Quiet fell between Ereba and John, they pushed themselves up and looked at each other in disbelief, Tali had muttered words that they never dared to think were possible. The two of them together without Tali being the primary focus? This was... well.. it was new that much was for certain. Tali'Zorah was a double standard lover with John. Look and touch, but never act. The sort of Goddess of this bond. They never questioned it for the first year or so, but the thrill of them together seemed so forbidden.

They would steal the occasional kiss when Tali was worn out and asleep; they spent hours in each other's arms, talking about everything they could approach. He learned much about her and she learned much about John and Tali, their adventures, his life. It all felt... natural, right much to both of their shock.

"What is this? Is Tali'Zorah ready to share her John with me?" Ereba was the first to speak, her voice low as she touched the quarian's cheek, smiling at her longingly. Tali smiled sweetly back, her eyes lowered from the gaze her future husband had on her. Slowly, uncertainly, she shrugged.

"Maybe it's not fair that I have all the fun." She admitted to the two of them. She looked and to each of them on her sides. Silently, she pushed herself back down, to let the two, the human and the asari approach each other.

"Perhaps, we should... I dunno, kiss. See if this suggestion can survive it." John spoke up, his eyes glancing from the excited Ereba and the submissive future wife.

A smile was shared between human and asari as they noticed the quarian watching them expectantly. Slowly, carefully, both John and Ereba leaned in, their chests pressing against Tali's as their lips met each other. The kiss was brief however, they broke it off immediately and glanced back down to gauge Tali's reaction to the affection. There was no anger in her eyes, nor any hypocritical possessiveness. She merely watched, mesmerized at the sight of the two of them touching each other on top of her.

Ereba and John eyed each other again as they noticed the voyeuristic grin spread across Tali's lips. Together they leaned down and both pressed their lips against Tali's, surprising the poor woman.

"Noooo, I'm watching you two, not your pleasure the quarian game." Tali teased as they allowed her lips to escape theirs. "Don't give me that look, John." She added lowly as she saw an expression of concern wash of him. "You have silently watched as Ereba and I.. well.."

Tali cleared her throat loudly and looked from John to Ereba and back to John again, her face heating up to a bright bush as thoughts begun to form into words.

"It's your turn now." She clarified once again, still looking shyly at the two of them. "I umm... I... _want to watch you inside her._"

Ereba lips pulled back, her pearly white teeth showing as she looked excited to a shocked John. John exhaled as he watched Tali's sharp teeth bit down on her lip. She pushed her head towards Ereba, a silent gesture to fulfill her wish. John nodded and crawled over Tali's naked body to rest himself on top of Ereba, her arms held out to take him into her embrace.

They leaned inwards and pressed their lips against one another once more, their mouths opened as they gently explored each other with tongues and wandering hands. Together, their eyes glanced over to find Tali had rolled on her side to watch the scene unfolding with an immense curiosity. Smiling slightly over to her John retracted his lips and pushed them deep into the asari's neck, nibbling it.

Ereba arched her back and moaned softly, her hand reaching out and took a hold of Tali's.

"T-think you can perform under this sort of scrutiny?" She breathed in between kisses across the human's face. John chuckled and pushed his head lower into her breasts, nipping moving his tongue over supple blue flesh goosebumping from the thrill of the sex and being voyeured upon by quarian, whose free hand was unconsciously sliding down her stomach as she watched her fiancee and asari lover in such proximity.

Ereba's hand was suddenly squeezed as a sudden shock ran through Tali as her hand fell hidden underneath the blanket concealing her lower half. She gasped gently as she watched John's lips continued to fall downwards Ereba's body, his hands still caressed over the contours of the asari's body, exploring conservative hips, a thin waist, rounded and supple breast, touching her neck She could faintly hear the squeaking gasp escape her quarian lovers lips as fingers penetrated herself. At that moment, John's lips met her mound for the first time in the two years since they met.

With a soft moan, Ereba pushed herself upwards, sitting on the pillow she had only moments ago was resting against, her hands tightened, one around Tali's the other end of the pillow as she felt a single long stroke of John's tongue move against her. Letting go of the pillow, Ereba's hand snaked around the human's head of hair and gripped it instead, carefully pushing the man into her.

Silently, she watched as the covers covering Tali's pelvis shuffled back and forth as her eyes watched John's ministrations. Breathing quickly, Tali turned her head over to look up at the asari adoringly. She shifted, pushing the covers away to reveal Tali's finger pushing in and out of her tight little snatch. Slowly, still working her magic, she shuffled closer and pushed herself against Ereba's soft, sweat glistened leg and grinded herself back and forth, her eyes still fixed on Ereba's. Shuttering roughly as John's fingers grazed her and the feeling of a wet quarian on her leg becoming ever more noticeable, she leaned onto Tali, nipping the girl's earlobe.

"D-does... the thought of John pushing himself inside me turn your sweet little quarian mind into mush?" She softly whispered into the aroused quarians ear. "What happened to that sweet girl who said she will put a tacking chip in his neck?"

She did not rely with words, only a whimper as her grinding shot electric through her nerves. She watched as Ereba's body reacted more and more s John's digits explored her. Shakily she leaned over and caught Tali's lips in a sloppy exchange of saliva and moaning.

Ereba felt a sudden shuffling of her body. It was John, his arms slid around her waist as he pulled himself up to kiss her and then Tali, whom had a gazed grin across her lips as the taste of Ereba brushed from his lips to hers.

She gasped and pressed her face into Tali's chest as she felt the surprising sensation of John filling her up completely. She could faintly hear him chuckle as he watched her nuzzle her face into Tali's chest. Tali stopped moving and looked up to John and smiled brightly.

"I don't think she expected that." She mused shakily to her fiancée. John bit his lip and leaned in, kissing the quarian again. He pushed his hips back and forth in Ereba's slowly, keeping his movements under a very careful restraint. Ereba whimpered into her quarian lover as she rolled her hips to meet John's. She sighed as Tali gently massaged her tendrils in slow, deep circles.

Tali smiled warmly, still tingling as she ignored her own urges and watched idly as John's pace sped up. She wrapped her arms around Ereba and buried the asari underneath her neck as she maintained her eyes on her future husband. She bit her lip, a ting of worry, of jealousy coming to the surface. As if she knew, Ereba reached up, her body shaking as her pelvis banged against John's. She gracefully grazed Tali's cheek, moving backwards to run through the braidlike hair.

"He..he loves you, Tali, we both do..." The asari woman in her arms murmured softly, her lips touching Tali's. Tali smiled and hooded her eye lids as she felt tender fingers roll down her abdomen. She gasped as they touched her, entered her, and maneuvered though her body. This act stopped being a voyeuristic one for Tali and became one of participation.

Whatever this started off as: as fun, as an exciting thrill of bringing a woman to bed with John and her. It had long since evolved. Yes, Tali admitted as her lips were touched by John's while Ereba's fingers dug in deep, She loved both of them as well.

**...**

* * *

**...**

**Mindoir: 2170CE**

Screaming and alien tongue being shouted at him was all he could hear now. The foul stench on the people he was escorting was a mixture of fear and whatever batarians took a bath in. He looked onto his fellow men as they guided a group of men, women and children through the alien township on Mindoir, graciously permitted to exist by the Alliance development board.

The group hissed amongst each other as the rain fell over them. Being dragged out in the early morning by strange two eyed beasts brandishing automatic weaponry and rage in their faces. The commanding officer of the detachment glanced back as he shoved one of the women who was falling behind. Several of his men were covering them as they made sure the crowd of enraged batarian civilians did not make a move against them.

He turned back as he stumbled into the fallen form of a batarian child, a small girl from what he figured, her large eyes staring up at him hatefully. He curled his lips up at her but lifted her from the muddy dirt nonetheless. Silently he pushed his way through the crowd of batarians gathered by the marines, the child in his hands. As he noticed the screaming of a mother and the child's hands reaching for her desperately, he handed the girl over to the mother, her many eyes shining with desperate tears.

The officer ignored it and continued onwards, pushing himself to the front. Suddenly the whine of an assault rifle broke out over head of them, causing the civilians to scream and duck in fear. The Commander leaned down and tugged one of the batarians, a male back on his feet.

"Sound off! What the hell was that?" He screamed through his comm mic as he grabbed a woman and stood her up next and pushed her along to keep walking.

_"Sorry sir, had to fire warning shots. The crowd got too close."_ the comm unit crackled back. Lieutenant Commander Eric Shepard exhaled through his nose. This was going to be a clusterfuck.

The group stepped at a marching pace as they reached the center of the town where several half asleep batarians stood with a well groomed officer and several of his marine bodyguards, watching them scream at him contemptuously. There was no emotion across the Major's expression. Only a slight look of indulgence.

"Lieutenant Commander." Major Jürgen Metzger called out gesturing for Eric's company. "I see you have completed your task. Line them up."

_Line them up?_

Eric's eyes narrowed at the order and at the indulgent smile on the Major's face. He looked back to his men and nodded to them, silently expressing the order. There was a sudden flurry of activity as the men in the unit shoved the crowd forward near several meters from the prefabricated building the marines had gathered around. There, they lined the civilians up, one by one and on their knees.

Metzger watched disinterestedly as the task was completed. He caught Shepard's arm and gestured him to stand by the batarian leadership who were frozen in a sudden knowing fear.

The Major stepped past them and slowly inspected the captured batarians one by one. He paused in front of one of them, a batarian woman in sleeping wear. Idly he tugged his sidearm out and shot a single clean round through her head. The crowd gasped as the woman slumped to the floor, the batarian leadership being forced to watch, stared on in disgust.

A sigh emitted from the mouth of the Major as he turned back to the town gathered around the nightmare spectacle.

"The blood of this poor woman is not on my hands, nor my men. It is on yours." He announced to the crowd gathered. "At 22:49 hours last night, batarian raiders attempted to commit an act of aggression on the settlement of Saharta, as well as a dozen other towns and settlements on Mindoir. Well over three hundred were killed, another eighty were captured and placed into your system of barbarity in Saharta alone. A total of seven thousand have been murdered across, many hundreds were taken."

"Unfortunately, two of your glorious heroes were captured." He added mockingly. "Both confessed where their staging ground was."

Metzger fired again, this time shattering the head open of a batarian man forced down in place next to the dead batarian woman.

"For several years, as your leaders know, my fellow officers have approached your township, knowing full well that you sympathize and support this barbaric custom." The Major continued to the hushed silent crowd gathered before him. "We silently watched as you fed, sheltered and rearmed these people. For several years, your leadership has told us the same story: that pirates are not being collaborated with nor are they welcomed in this town. After this recent attack, I have been charged to find out if this is true or not."

Major Metzger turned away from the crowd he had addressed and towards Eric, his eyes friendly as he glanced to the Township leadership standing next to Shepard contemptuously.

"Commander Shepard, execute them." Metzger ordered, gesturing to the settlement leaders casually. Eric shut his eyes and slowly nodded. He watched quietly as four of Metzger's men shoved the group against the wall of the prefabricated building. Through the screaming, one of the batarian men stepped forward. Defiance streaked across his expression.

"You will never get away with this murder." The batarian roared at both the Commander and the Major. Major Metzger merely smirked at the protest.

"Yes, I think we will." He returned, nodding to Shepard and stepping away from the Commander. Eric raised his assault rifle. He ignored the cries of protest and pulled the trigger of the rifle, the sudden flaring roar of the weapon silencing them and turning the half dozen men into perforated corpses.

The crowed screamed out once more. A few attempted to push forward to attack both Shepard and Metzger, only to find out how a rifle felt smashed against their face. Metzger sighed and raised his sidearm in the air, the gesture earning another scream and yet another firing round from the Major.

"PLEASE GOOD PEOPLE... REMAIN CALM." Metzger roared out at the gathering, waving his pistol at the crowd. Slowly, the crowd obliged and fell into a state of panicked shocked quiet.

"Once more, after years of terror against simple settlers, it is time to answer the charge. Are you- "

Metzger paused himself and raised an eyebrow as they watched an Alliance Marine shove her way through the crowd of batarians and approached the Major and Commander. It was Lieutenant Aashritha Latesh, on her face was an uncharacteristic display of anguish. Her eyes appeared bloodshot as she breathed erratically.

Eric reached out to his Executive Officer and took her by her arm. He leaned in to inspect his friend carefully.

"Lieutenant... Ash...What happened?" He inquired carefully, his hand wrapping around Aashritha's back. Over and over, the lieutenant shook his head, eyes looking downwards.

"Sir... Shepard... We found several bodies of children. Human" The Lieutenant breathed to both her friend and to Major Metzger. "They were hidden in a home, bound, syringe holes and gagged. There is signs of... abuse, according to the doc."

She finally looked up, her eyes watering with tears as she looked to Eric helplessly.

"I-I didn't know..know what to do... they're.. their just babies... their just babies." She admitted wiping her eyes furiously. A hand fell down onto her shoulder. It was Metzger, who was leaning into the upset man's field of view.

"Take the children to the transport, Lieutenant; I want you to clean them up." Metzger finally spoke up; his voice unnatural steady at the news. "I will not have them returned to their parents in such a dreadful state. Dead or alive."

Lieutenant Latesh nodded grimly and, with one broken look for her friend and Commanding Officer, she took off at a running pace back towards the scene of the crime. Eric's eyes glanced over to Metzger, his head bowed as he stared at the muddy ground under his boots. The son of a bitch was right about them.

"We have our evidence." Metzger called out, looking back up at face the crowd gathered. "We officially know that amongst this crowd are pirate raiders. We know that you will not cooperate, batarian determination is near unbreakable is the claim. So. I will not pursue interrogation."

He turned away and wandered down the line and lined up in front of the batarian kneeling in front of the human. His pistol raised at him. Metzger turned his head backwards to face the crowd.

"Instead I shall execute each and everyone one of these innocents until you turn yourself in for your crimes." He concluded. "You have five seconds to comply."

_1..._

The crowd was screaming in protest. Eric looked back at them, they looked furious of the ultimatum.

_2..._

He ordered the men not watching over the captives to step forward and take firing positions, just in case...

_3..._

He noticed Metzger staring at the batarian who was begging for his life in his native tongue. They were cries for help that would be unheeded by the Major.

_4..._

Eric turned to see several batarians, a woman and two boys kneeling in the crowd, looking inconsolable. Eric bit his lip. Family. He bowed his head and thought of John, Sarah and Hannah. If they could see their hero father now.

_5..._

The pistol barked once as Metzger pulled the trigger coolly and stepped out of the bodies path as it fell. Jürgen stared at the body for a moment and turned to his next victim in line. A small boy, no more than ten. Silently, the Major raised his pistol once more and looked up towards the crowd who, despite their noise, had yet to come forward. If there was anyone to come forward.

"Must you make me shed the blood of your children? You have the power to save these lives by telling the truth. I must warn you, I can do this all day. And I will." Metzger challenged the crowd, his pistol unwavering.

Before Eric knew it, the Major pulled the trigger yet again. The boy slumped as the life left his now broken body. The crowd cried out once more. Several of the batarians managed to nearly penetrate through the defense line Eric set up but were forcibly shoved back with the butts of rifles.

Again the crowd flinched as every five second interval, Metzger executed another batarian. Man, woman, child. It did not matter. They stopped being living beings the moment they had Jürgen Metzger looming over them like the angel of death. Eric closed his eyes as he felt a dull pang hit his stomach. He wiped his eyes and turned away. Shakily he hit open his omni-tool and clicked for a private channel with his Lieutenant, Aashritha Letesh.

"Ash... He's lost it... Metzger is executing everyone." Eric murmured through he private channel, breathing raggedly as he attempted not to vomit. Again the pistol fired, causing the Commander to flinch.

_"You have to stop him, Eric, Please."_ The comm channel crackled back, Aashritha's voice pleaded to him._ "Not all of these people are bad, they don't deserve to die. Please... Eric... This doesn't bring back any of the dead we lost."_

Eric looked up and noticed Metzger, his pistol drawn over the his next target, a woman, clutching a child in her arms, protectively shielding him from the monster standing over them. Before Eric could call out. A voice broke through the crowd.

"I AM A SLAVER, SIR! I'M A SLAVER! PLEASE, SIR... NOT MY WIFE, NOT MY DAUGHTER!"

One batarian pushed through the crowd, a boy standing next to him, screaming in an untranslatable language. Metzger looked up from the woman he loomed over and towards the man, a smile appearing across his face. He stepped away and wandered over towards the outspoken man.

"It appears we are making some progress. Name?" The Major inquired, gesturing to the marine to let him by. The Marine did so, but forced the child at the father's side back. The batarian glanced back at the boy and then turned back to face the inquisitor.

"Sovak Darox." He spoke up again. Metzger nodded blankly and tilted his head. Slowly, the Major stepped forward towards the batarian.

"You were a member of the raiding party on Saharta?"

Sovak nodded his head hard.

"Yes I was." He announced to the Major, his voice high and proud as his eyes darted to his wife. "I killed three men in the raid. I fight to keep your people out the Skyllian Verge. A zone of batarian interest." Again he glanced to his crying wife and added. "I-I will gladly be taken if you leave my family be. I will help you find whoever and whatever you need."

Metzger's eyes bored deep into Sovak's, his arms crossed as he simply stood there, watching the batarian plead on behalf of his wife and daughter. Quietly, Eric closed the Comm Chanel with Lieutenant Latesh and slowly stepped towards the remaining batarian captives. From behind the Major, Eric noticed that he nodded slightly, his hands falling behind his back as he tucked his pistol back into his holster.

"Mr. Darvok," The Major spoke up. "What I would like from you is the location of your Forward Operating Base in the region as well as the location of the slave pits."

Eric watched as Sovak's eyes closed, his head bowed in shame. Metzger turned away briefly, a smile becoming present to Eric.

"I see, just a simple mind, I suppose." The Major murmured. Faster than Eric could comprehend, Metzger drew his pistol once more and fired a round off, piercing through Sovak's stomach.

Metzger wandered away from the roaring struggling batarian as he slowly died. His son ripped his way out of the arms of the crowd and fell to his Father's side, cradling him and screaming. The officer ignored the scene and stepped by Eric. Jürgen shot half a smirk towards Eric and raised his pistol against the head of Sovak's wife.

He pulled the trigger. The body slumped under its own weight. Sovak screamed louder than the crowd did. He was held back by his son who was wailing at the sight of his dying mother. Metzger ignored it and turned his attention to the small girl hunched over her mother' body begging for her to wake up. The pistol loomed over the child.

Before Eric knew it, before Jürgen knew it, Eric's armored fist swung back and cracked the Alliance Major in the jaw. Metzger collapsed to the mud ground, soaking his uniform. Eric lashed out again, his boot slugging his mentor, his educator in the stomach, causing a scream in his native laungage.

With all his might, Shepard booted Metzger's pistol as far as he could kick it. He turned away and ignored the men from Metzger run to his side.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" He ordered the remaining dozen Batarians waiting for their deaths. Though dazed, they did not need to be asked twice. They left, all except for the little girl clinging tightly to her mother's chilling corpse. Still, the father screamed for his child's survival as Shepard knelled down and placed a hand on the girls shoulder.

"Please." He begged her "Go to your daddy."

She did not understand. Guiltily, Shepard pried the child, now screaming out of her hold over her fallen mother and shooed her along to her father. Eric watched as the child stumbled over towards her wounded father, crying and howling in anguish. Eric stood up and avoided the gaze of the dying batarian man the best he could.

"You don't get to kill her; you lunatic fuck!" Eric growled as he stepped back towards the mudcaked Metzger. One of his men stepped forward to stop him, but Eric was too fast. He ducked and kneed the marine in the gut. He stepped over the fallen man's body and latched his fist tightly around Jürgen's jacket.

"You don't get to kill anyone else today, not now, not like this." Eric snapped, his voice chalked full of rage. "You're fucking finished in this army; do you get me, you fucking scumbag?"

Metzger spat out a mouthful of saliva and blood and chuckled, almost amused at the situation.

"Do you think this was a personal issue for me, Shepard?" Metzger hissed back, clutching his broken cheek. "I was ordered for this. Just like you. They wanted a strong message sent, so they sent us!"

Shepard exhaled unsteadily and let go the bleeding man. He turned away from the him. It was was time to take command of this farce.

"Service Chief, Find the Medic, Get this man some treatment." He barked out before turning to the rest of his men. "The rest of you get the fuck out of here. We're bugging ou-."

Everything went white, everything went deaf. He felt nothing as he felt an explosion of pain and a massive force push him upwards and, just as quickly, gravity forced him to tumble back down. He landed surface and hit it hard. All he could do was lay there as he felt dirt kick up around him and a warmness coating everything, his face, his chest, his ass felt as though he was sitting in a warm rain puddle. He blinked repeated, he was alive, at least it seemed like it.

He rolled his face over as he felt the warm liquid pool in his eye. He coughed, violently, spitting blood and raised an arm trying to wipe his eyes clean.

The crowd seemed to have been running for their lives, leaving many dead behind. He saw figures running about him, not checking to see if he was alive or dead. It must have been his platoon fighting back against an enemy that did this. He looked over towards where the batarian pirate was laying. He was gone, dead. Still, his children remained

"G-go." He managed to speak up in a guttural utterance. He managed to swing his arm off towards where the settlement was. He needed the children to run, to flee to safety. They had to survive this. He...He couldn't save their father not their mother... He failed... but...perhaps... perhaps she could have saved them...

Again he waved his arm, attempting to get the message across. The elder of the two, the brother, seemed to have got the point. His face was contorted into a look of rage for Shepard and quickly, he fled, his sister clutching his hand. The boy hated everything the Marine stood for and stood by. Eric could not have blamed him.

Slowly, the Marine tried to sit up, but he couldn't. Something wasn't feeling right now. He glanced back down towards his legs. One leg, his right was damaged heavily and bleeding. His other... His...left leg..No... it couldn't be... it was there. It had to have been there. This was all just a misunderstanding.

But it wasn't. His left leg was gone. Shredded off his body.

Eric's eyes widened as he cried out painfully for the loss. He rolled over, screaming in pain as he looked around, desperately for the missing limb. There resting peacefully a few meters away, was the leg, blown clean off just below his kneecap. With one arm he desperately crawled over centimeters at a time. Moaning and crying as the pain grew more and more.

A burst of a rifle fired over his head and the footsteps of Alliance issued boots stepped over him. He looked up to find four marines were around him, firing at every direction. Then a sudden kick connected to his gut, causing him to roll over on his back. There he found himself looking into the enraged eyes of Major Metzger, his pistol exchanged for an assault rifle of his own.

The Major bent down and gripped Eric's cheek, turning his head over to look him in the eyes. Slowly, the Officer laughed at the sight he was leaning over.

"Look at you, Commander, you're a bloody disgrace!" Metzger mocked, gesturing to towards the limb lost. "Scattered across the battlefield, your men dead and dying. All because you couldn't control your _damnable emotions!_"

One of the Marines leaned down and looked ready to grab him and retreat him from the battlefield. He was stopped immediately by the fuming major.

"Leave him here for the animals." The Major sneered, interrupting the Marine's actions, his lips curled up into a smile. "I am afraid that he has lost his purpose."

Major Metzger's boot fell hard on top of his chest as he stepped on and over the injured Commander. Eric did not say anything as he felt the pain coursed throughout his damaged body. Abandoned to the pirate's mercy. He deserved that fate, monsters always do.

He thought to his children, to Hannah. He hoped they would be okay, that Hannah would have the good sense not to allow their children anywhere near the Alliance. Perhaps his death would have its usefulness. His children would go to school and become doctors and lawyers and never ever dream of following their stupid fucking dead father's footsteps into a life of serving another man's cause.

Eric Shepard closed his eyes. He was content enough to die.

"Commander!" A voice screamed out as it fell down to his side and fired a burst of rile fire in the enemies direction. "Oh... Eric... please be alive, You're not dying here, you_ Bēvakūpha, kamabakhta kamīnē..._"

Latesh. That magnificent Hindi beauty! Eric couldn't have been happier to see anyone in his life. Fuck dying. FUCK DYING. Dying was a stupid fucking idea to begin with. It was for stupid fucking pussies who didn't have a highly competent Lieutenant, like he did. Aashirita was here to save his sorry ass!

"A-a-Ash...I...I hurt" He managed whimper out, trying to smile. Lieutenant Latesh shushed him, one finger falling over his bleeding lips.

He watched her eyes dart back and forth, her lips trembling, her eyes filling with tears as she looked for something, anything to do for her friend. He felt her hands rub the blood off his face as she gently lifted his head up and cradled him like a child.

"You shut your stupid mouth, Erikson, you silly idiot." She whispered as brightly as she could. She slung her rifle back onto her back "I'm getting you out here. So do not complain about a little pain, you crybaby wimp."

Shepard snorted and nodded his head, his reaction to her insults earned a careful kiss on the top of his head, despite the blood coating the woman's lips. She lean over and, ignoring the gritted screaming from the man, lifted him up with all her might and slung him over her shoulder blades. Before they took off, Ash leaned over and grabbed Eric's dismembered leg,

Just in case.

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**I really wanted to add more, but honestly, this chapter could hve doubled in size real quick. So, I'm breaking this chapter into two parts for my own sake. I hate getting bogged down. Look on the bright side if you like this story. I'm already maybe halfway done the next chapter!**

**Thanks to SergiusTheGreat for the betaing and putting up with my shit**

**Be sure to drop a review! **

**DarkDanny  
**


	3. Eric's Regret

**Back. Sorry for the delay. This chapter took longer then I wanted. like 7000 words longer then I wanted. I hate writing combat scenes. It drags on in my opinion. Anyways, sorry in advance for any mistakes. A fully betaed version will be started on friday..**

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_I woke from the dream in a cold, cold sweat, I was full of doubt and deep regret, For suddenly it was so clear to me; There was nothing left in which to believe_

_And everything I loved and feared, had all at once disappeared_  
_Oh everything I loved and fear, had all at once... disappeared_

**...**

**Fort Chuikov, Mars: 2170CE **

_They were an acceptable loss._

Five simple words turned a crippled war veteran into a certified lunatic. It took six C-Sec officers before they managed to drag a piss drunk Eric Shepard off of a bleeding, broken and bruised Major Jürgen Metzger after a confrontation in the ambassador lounge on the presidium.

To make matters worse. He had done it right in front of his horrified wife, son and daughter. They watched helplessly as Eric turned the man he hated with a passion unlike anything he ever had hated before into a bloody broken mess. They were stunned, horrified of what possessed the wounded man to commit such an act.

That was six months ago. He had not seen his wife or children since.

"Your Honor, Thank you for this leniency shown to my client." Spoke the JAG officer to his right, breaking his thoughts, his pondering on his family. His name wasn't known to Eric, He did not give enough of a shit to care about who was defending him. He just wanted out, out of the grasp of the Alliance as quickly as possible. Whether it was prison or not.

He silently ignored the stare of Judge Christensen, an older, shrewd looking woman looking for any signs of fight in the deathly silent man.

"It was at request of the victim that his fifteen years be reduced to three as well as keep an honorable discharge." Judge Christensen returned, crossing her arms and staring at the prisoner and his JAG officer. "You owe General Metzger your thanks for his compassion, Eric Shepard. Assaulting your superior officer is a grievous offense in my books."

Christensen stood up as Shepard continued to stare off and made a point to continue ignoring her.

"He wishes to meet you before his appointment to division commander of the 87th." Christensen informed the former Commander. "He feels guilty for the amount of trauma you received, for him believing you had perished in combat; General. Come in."

Silently, the Commander glowered as rage shook through him. Murdering a hundred batarians, one third of a settlement, got him a promotion and citation for bravery. Attacking a monster who ordered the mass slaughter got him a fifteen year sentence had the murderer not showed his compassion... What a fucking excellent system he once sought to defend...

"Thank you for allowing this, Your Honor." A warm voice called from behind Eric, causing him to retract and tighten up. The newly appointed General Metzger stepped forward, past the JAG officer and Eric to shake Judge Christensen's hand warmly.

"Should I keep a guard in here, General Metzger?" Judge Christensen inquired gesturing to her bailiff who stood up more impressively. Metzger held his hand up and shook his head confident he was more then safe.

"Eric was one of the finest soldiers under my command. Solid under fire and knew how to follow a command. He stood by me when others were more then willing to surrender to the turians." Metzger returned, his light eyes falling onto the empty stare of Eric Shepard. "This man is a hero." He added, his voice still kind. "A wayward one, but a hero nonetheless."

Christensen looked from his bailiff, to Eric's JAG officer and nodded respectfully to the general. One by one, All of them left, leaving Metzger and Shepard by themselves in the judge office. Metzger allowed a brief smile to the vacating Alliance officials and closed the door, leaning against it slightly. Eric turned away from Metzger. He could not stand to look at him.

"Hello, Eric." The accented voice called out from behind him. Eric ignored it the best he could. He heard a soft sigh from the lips of the German echo through the room.

"A vow of silence has been taken by you?" The General inquired of his former student. He sighed and stepped forward, moving around the table and sitting in the judge's freshly vacated seat. His passionless expression looked over Eric with only a mild interest.

Eric stared ahead, not displaying an ounce of emotion on his expression. He would not give Metzger the satisfaction of getting a rise out of the soon to be jailed inmate.

"I wanted you to know that I do not blame you for what happened after you got out of the hospital." Metzger spoke, breaking the strained silence. "You have some serious mental scarring from your tragic injuries, Scarring that will heal with time."

"Fuck you."

Metzger blinked at the sudden lash out. He ignored it and slowly smiled.

"Regardless. I hope that you o not worry about your future once you leave for prison, I managed to secure your Deferred Education grant." Metzger continued s if he hadn't heard anything at all. "From what your JAG officer spoke of, you were applying to architecture school. Quite a noble trade, Shepard. Drink?"

Metzger silently poured himself a glass of water and sipped it slowly, He offered the jug out to him with a smile. He silently watched as the convict, still stared off, still defiantly not speaking to him. As he set down the glass, he took off his officer cap and slicked his hand through his hair.

"I honestly regret that things ended the way they did." The General admitted openly, his lips forming a forgiving smile for Shepard. "You had so... So much potential. One of my greatest regrets is that I did not teach you my most important lesson."

Metzger reached into his jacket and tugged out a silver case. Opening revealed it to be a cigarette holder. He pulled two out and slipped them into his mouth. As he lit both of them he removed one and handed t over to Eric. Eric merely stared, not taking the silent gesture. Metzger huffed a slight chuckle and exhaled.

"Compassion, Eric Shepard. Is useless and wasted on the animals."

Metzger jabbed the cigarette hard into Eric's forearm, forcing the cherry to burn through Eric's flesh. Eric winced as the icy heat singed his flesh, damaged his nerves but did not make a noise to satisfy the bastard, Metzger. Instead, Eric merely sat there and took the pain dished by the son of a bitch, his eyes glaring hatefully into the General's.

"I will not go into detail." Metzger continued, taking a drag from his cigarette and retracting the butt out of Shepard's forearm. "You are a lost cause and not worth another ounce of my energy. No... I have other plans."

Still smirking, he leaned inwards to face down the prisoner.

"There is good reason why I asked for a light sentence for you." The Officer explained to the restrained man. "In three years, your son will be 19 and two years deep into my education."

Eric felt his eyes widen in shock and rage. No..NO. John want going to join the core. He was going to do anything else but that! He would not walk down the path traveled by his father. He was a good boy, a smart boy! He wouldn't listen and fall into this asshole's hands so freely. John wasn't like that, not at all...

Wasn't he?

"I want you to watch as I turn John Shepard into the man Eric Shepard could never be: Me." Metzger sneered, his lips curling into a dark smile. "He will learn all about your incompetence to save your men. Learn how you blew yourself up running to help a protect a pirate rather then protect your men."

Metzger fell silent as he reveled in the sudden explosion of rage that shook through his former Lieutenant Commander. He stood up and quietly wandered back towards the door out of the office. As his hand fell onto the doorknob, he paused and turned back to Eric.

"Jail time does not satisfy me, Eric Shepard." He announced to his enraged failure. "Watching your life fall apart does."

And then he was gone, leaving Eric screaming in bloodcurdling rage.

...

* * *

...

"We should go into town today after Dad's work is done, We can show him around. Maybe even teach him some tact about quarians. That flirting with Shala'Raan. I was not impressed."

"She certainly was."

John Shepard rolled his eyes from Tali's teasing musings. It wasn't often she was the instigator of his annoyances, when she was, she certainly knew how to push all his buttons.

"Did you see the way she was looking at him, John?" She continued, shuddering softly as the fingers in her back pushed deep against her spine. "Keelah, I can honestly say I never saw Auntie Raan look at anyone like that before. Most men sort of shun her as unappealing. Too much power I suppose, makes her look unapproachable. I mean it's flattering of Eric, but it's kind of leading her on I mean, he's married."

"Says the engaged quarian, whose asari lover is making us breakfast in bed and whistling like she was a song bird..." John reminded her, smirk in his voice ever evident.

Tali silently pouted at his reminder of Ereba in the kitchen, dutifully making them something to eat. There was a sudden guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach. As she felt strong hands rubbing up and down her spine, she purred and decided to forgive the ape, which she would soon call husband, and suppress the guilt of the very open relationship they had with Ereba, thanks to her curiosity.

She loved John, she really did. If forced to choose between the two of them. John would be her choice in a heartbeat. But for Tali, Ereba Delaus brought a much needed sense of femininity for the quarian grease monkey who'd spent her whole life doing very male oriented things, fixing engines, ship maintenance, being the son Rael'Zorah never had. Being in love with John Shepard really did not help. Sure, he made her feel like a woman, but Ereba was the one who taught Tali it was okay to act like one. Now she found herself dabbling in wearing dresses whenever she was in a contaminate free area. A far cry from the suit she was usually in.

She looked up as the door creaked open. In stepped Ereba, mostly dressed, her hands laden with a tray of plates and a a bright smile on the face for the human and the quarian.

"Two bacon toast and eggs and a coupe glasses of Guava juice for the hungry Levos, and a fruit salad for the dextro." She happily chirped, leaning in to peck both John and Tali lips before sitting down in front of them, the tray extended for both of them to take their respective meal.

As John breathed a word of thanks to the asari, he noticed her attire had matched Tali's. It was his clothing. Well, it was his and Tali's. His shirt, hie boxers. He mildly grinned and took a bite of his bacon.

"You raided our closet?" He spoke as he swallowed his mouthful of breakfast as his eyes scanned over the contours of her body. Ereba shared a smirk with Tali and nodded her head coyly, her eyelids fluttering.

"Tali did it; She picked this out for me." She admitted, her down at her chest briefly before looking back up to her human lover, adding, "Do I look pretty?"

"You're wearing my clothing, makes you pretty by default." Shepard returned offhandedly to her. While Tali giggled at the remark, Ereba huffed and playfully glared at the human. John looked away from the two of them, coyly chewing on his breakfast.

"You know, for someone who was in a relationship with a krogan, you're unusually tight and very vocal." Shepard mused, grinning defiantly at the asari on his lap.

Tali coughed violently, the drink in her mouth spraying all over John's face, causing the Spectre to cry out in a sudden burst of rage. Ereba giggled lightly and shrugged, blushing prettily as she leaned over and wiped the juice off his face with the edge of his stolen shirt.

"Despite their threateningly large posture, Krogans are actually rather... disproportionate in the area that counts." Ereba explained, turning round to use Shepard as a chair. "Besides, We were on a break... for about as long as Tali has been alive."

Tali and John shared a wide, disbelieving gaze at the remark from the asari. As hard as it may be to have fathom such a period time, it was was quite believable, considering the length of life the asari had.

"You were on a break for a quarter of a century?" Tali mused, her expression still shocked. Ereba smirked and nodded her head briefly before resting it on John's broad shoulder.

"He was getting on my nerves." Ereba explained simply. "I mean, I liked him, but not enough to put up with his badgering for so many years."

Ereba turned around in John's lap again and brushed his cheek with her soft hand. She glanced briefly to Tali, who nodded, smiling at the two. Ereba leaned in and pressed her lips against John's, lingering for a moment longer then planned. She pulled back and smiled, teeth showing.

"Don't worry, John." She assured the human. "I haven't had sex with a male that good since.. well, ever." She smirked, glancing back to Tali and added. "I understand why Tali is such a blabbering idiot whenever you're in her."

Tali screeched and launched herself on top of the asari, knocking both women onto the bed. He chuckled and stood up. He'd join in later. First, he'd head to his hideaway, where his omni-tool was stashed.

Garrus was due for a report on their situation. As he reached the doorway, he debated on closing it. He turned to see Tali Ereba still a soft moan escaping her lips as she wrapped them around Ereba's neck. He smirked slightly and stepped out of the room, leaving the door wide open.

Listening to them play was as near a treat as joining in.

...

* * *

...

"Team Ten, maintain position, set up the emplacements and be ready for anything. We've engaged the quarian military and have forced them into cover. We need to expect anything."

"_Copy that Ra'Xavar out."_

Captain Jaroas looked up and down at the quarian firing line, which was holding strong against everything that he had thrown at it so far. For a bunch of buckethead's they were stubborn as hell.

"Good luck out there." He whispered to himself. he looked up and caught the reason hey were firing on quarian marines next to him, his sniper rifle scope against his eyes s he frantically looked from opening to opening for his reason to have been there. That damnable human, the reason he was risking his neck and his men out here.

"See anything?"

The client retracted head form the eyepiece and shook it curtly.

"Nothing." The client admitted, lowering his sniper rifle to look at Jaroas. "My target is inside the garrison. There are snipers amongst them as well, so watch ou-"

The head of one of his men was shredded open as sniper fire reigned in onto the building they were taking cover in. Captain Jaroas' eyes went wide in shock. He crawled on the floor to go and examined the fallen Merc. It was Sawax's, a new boy who signed onto his crew. Much, much too young to die like this.

He looked back up, his eyes glaring into his clients. The he curled his lips and bared his teeth in disgust.

"You piece of shit!" Jaroas growled at the younger batarian. "Couldn't you have chosen a better place to pick him off?"

The client didn't even blink.

"Shut your fucking mouth up." The kid spat back, his rifle was raised again as he scanned the rooftop for hostiles. "You took my credits, you accepted the plan. Deal with it!"

Jaroas glared daggers into the back of the boys skull. Disrespectful little shit. How dare he take that attitude with him. Didn't the little son of bitch realize that he had hired a mercenary team that held no loyalties other then money? He had half a mind to up and leave him then and there. His men shouldn't have had to die over some other fools personal vendetta...

The sniper turned back to face the Captain, his many eyes wide in shock.

"The sniper is a fucking geth!"

A crack connected against one of his men firing down on the marine position, the round piercing his neck. Jaroas pulled himself back up and ducked, maneuvering slowly over to the wounded and squirming young man's side. It was Qarya. his neck was gushing blood freely as he tried to clutch the wound. Jaroas leaned in and wrapped his hands around the wound as well.

"MEDIC!" He screamed out. In a matter of moments he was joined by several of his men. They tugged Qarya away out of his arms and went to work on stopping the wound from getting any worse. He looked away and caught the eyes of the sniper.

"Get the fuck out my sight, Dovok, Before I cancel the contract and gut you." He stated quietly to the sniper. He turned to the young man next to Dovok and added. "Dazav, get the Rocket launchers out and warm up the mortar, we need to smoke these buckets out their garrison."

Dazav nodded and crawled out of there. Quietly, the captain ignored Dovok's glare and sat down behind cover being pounded at by sniper and automatic rifle fire.

What the fuck did he just get himself into?

...

* * *

...

Tali'Zorah, or rather, soon to be Tali'Shepard sneezed softly, and groaned to herself.

Sick again.

She ignored the trill of feminine giggling pressed against her stomach. She sighed as hands gripped her sides and lips pressed against her skin. Such a lovely feeling, asari kisses, soft and delicate, So different from the passionately frantic, orgasm inducing human kisses she was so use too. She sighed yet again: Being sick from her dalliances with John and their lover, she had to admit... was totally worth it.

She closed her eyes as her hands continued to stroke through Ereba gentle tendrils, elating a pleasurable moan from the gentle message. She watched as blue toes, as small and as many as John had, curled up at the affection she was receiving. She smiled to herself and tried not to feel guilty for having one extra lover in the bedroom then what was usually normal...

The door, cracked open half burst open, causing Tali to jump and Ereba to roll over in shock.

It was John, his eyes frantic as he finished placing on his N7 armor gauntlet. He was fully armored as he stormed into the bedroom, ignoring the asari and quarian laying on his bed and looking at him shock. He knelt down and crawled under the bed. lowly, he came out, sliding a large metal box with him. He tugged it open. Tali heard Ereba gasp at the tight of the large amount of munitions stored away in the crate.

"John, what are you doing." Tali spoke up, her voice wavering as she noticed the grenade launcher being strapped to his back.

John did not reply as he strapped on his Tempest, Predator and finally, his Mattock rifle onto the magnetic plates situated around his body armor. He stood up and as quickly as he entered the room, he left, storming out of the room. Ereba and Tali shared a stunned look from the random scene.

"By the goddess, that was hot..." Ereba finally spoke up. Her face flushed at the sight of a suddenly militarized John.

Tali, while feeling the same way as Ereba, did not reply, instead she stood up and launched herself out of bed, out of the bedroom and into the hallway. She made her way into the kitchen and found John searching frantically for something.

"John what happened?" Tali reiterated, her voice chalked full of fear for what was going on. John didn't spare her a glance up as he found what he was searching for. a box of medical supplies.

"Garrus and Kal got ambushed on their way to the capital building." He curtly explained to the shocked quarian. "Dad's been hit bad."

He stashed the Medi-Gels into his suit and took off, stepping outside and slamming the door behind him, leaving a shaken Tali in his wake. Tali was numb... Eric... was he dead? was he dying? was it a false alarm? Keelah... she... she had to help. She had to d something, anything!

She bolted back to the bedroom and found Ereba, dressing up properly to find out what was happen. As she noticed Tali's eyes, glistened with tears, she stepped forward to embrace the younger woman.

"Tali?" She whispered, soft as ever. Tali looked up and broke away from the embrace. She wiped her eyes and exhaled to calm herself.

"Help me suit up, Ereba." Tali requested, her voice hard. "I need to borrow your car."

...

* * *

...

"TAKE COVER!" Lieutenant Kal'Reegar screamed at his unit.

A series of explosions connected against the firing line, shattering the building wall and causing a momentary lapse of covering fire. The quarian coughed and rolled over, there was a sharp ringing in his ears as he attempted to pull himself together. His mask was coated in a variety of substances. Notably quarian blood.

His eyes went wide as he quickly checked for any wounds. There was n one he could find.

"Report!' Kal spoke again, wiping the dust and blood from his helmet mask. Only serving to smear the liquid on his mask.

"Fale is KIA, Hafan has been hit pretty bad!" He heard Mara'Devos report. He turned and noticed Corporal Fale'Yevar torn in half, his leg scattered across the room and his chest torn open. He looked away and noticed Mara hunched over the wounded Hafan, he was screaming as Mara tried to push his insides back into his chest.

Kal shuffled through Fale's pool of blood and pushed Mara away from Hafan, taking her place. This was his mistake, he would handle it. He looked up to the rest of his men his eyes narrowed in a show of determination. His men had to maintain morale if they wanted to escape this nightmare.

"Keep firing on the the source of the rocket launch!" He ordered them, he tapped onto his Commlink and added. "Legion, redirect fire on anyone holding something larger then a goddamn assault rifle, Sevarr, cover Legion from counter sniper activity. Quaera get your ass in here, we got wounded!"

He turned back to Hafan, whose shattered mask was looking up at him, his eyes wide in fear. Kal pressed his blood smeared mask against Hafan's, carefully hushing the marine in an attempt to calm him down. He felt Hafan's grip hold him tightly as he shook and breathed erratically.

"_Sir... I."_

Kal reached up and tugged off his own mask. He would undoubtedly get sick but he it was the least he could do for him, offer some sort of comfort. Slowly, he formed a reassuring smile for the dying marine. He reached down and, with his free hand, squeezed Hafan's hand.

"You're going to fine corporal." Kal reassured his marine, a smile still plastered on his face. "You got yourself a nice vacation coming up, right? Right? Quaera?"

Qwale'Quaera fell to her knees by Hafan and Kal's side. Her hands taking over for Kal. She looked up in surprise of Kal's exposure and declaration of the young mans survival. lowly she nodded and turned back to face the dying marine.

"Ye-yeah, it will be all alright, Hafan." She agreed as brightly as she could. "Come on, I'm going to help you out. keep talking." She looked up, adding, "Mara, I need your help!"

She pulled herself around him and took a hold of Hafan's arms. As Mara stood up to join the medical officer, A sudden, sickening crack connected against Mara's shoulder, causing her to cry out and collapse next to Hafan. Kal stood up and immediately rushed to Mara's side, helping her up.

"Mara, keep going to the aid station." Kal ordered the moaning Mara. "I'll help you, Quaera."

Qwale nodded and, after Mara took off limping, they lifted Hafan up to take him to the last place he would lay alive.

...

* * *

...

Tali brought Ereba's hover car down back towards the planet surface , following John closely, despite his massive head start. As soon as he landed, he was out of the vehicle, his, old Mattock rifle in his hand. He sprinted off, his destination was the heart of the city and to Eric, who was in trouble apparently... Keelah why was this all happening again? First her father, now John's?

No... No she would never allow that to happen again. She needed Eric to be there in their life, to help with the inevitable grandchildren that would come. For the first time since she had met him, she took his title of _future mother to my grandchildren_, dead serious. If he got out of this safe, Tali would take in as many children as she could to make her future father-in-law happy.

"John.. John... STOP RIGHT NOW." Tali screamed at her fiancee, her voice louder and more commanding then she intended.

John stopped running and went completely rigid. Slowly he turned around to face Tali as she ran up to his side. He simply stared at her, demanding a reason why he was being interrupted like this,

"This doesn't involve you." He snapped at her, his eyes narrowing.

As John turned to depart, he felt his hands suddenly snatched from him by his future wife. She stared up at him, stubborn and defiant as usual.

"Yes it does." She returned, her voice edged with coursing anger for him. "He's to become my father as well, you selfish bosh'tet. Do you think I want to stand idly by while he is in trouble?"

John looked away back to the city. His chin was suddenly yanked back to stare deep into Tali's hypnotic illuminant eyes.

"You helped me with my father. Let me help with yours." Was the quarians simple demand. She let go of his face as her arms crossed. She continued to stare deeply into John's haunted expression. Reluctantly, John nodded his head curtly and exhaled.

"Come on. We don't have much time." He returned at last, letting of her hands and charging away from her. He paused and turned back to Tali who looked surprised. His arm lashed out and waved her to follow him. Tali nodded and took off, pulling out her assault rifle and popping in a heat clip. They had someone to save.

It was just like old times.

...

* * *

...

_"K-keeelah... we're all going to die out here! We are going to be vaporized. We need to get out of here now!"_

The explosions impacting against the building were growing more and more frequent now. Whoever these attackers were, they had only one intention: Killing everyone inside this building.

_"We're all just waiting to die now. I-I don't want to die... I want to live ... I want to see my parents and my friends and and..."_

Quawe'Quaera looked into her medical bag and dug around through the dwindling supplies as she found herself having to patch quarians as well as Eric, who was steadily growing colder and paler then he was ever before. Behind her mask She blinked away the tears as she called the time of death on a fallen marine. Hafan'Juiana, one of the marines who helped gather her nerves up before the engagement. Nice kid... much too young to die.

She sniffed and crawled over the corpse and went to apply another injection of medi-gel and antibiotics onto the delirious female marine, Corporal Mara'Devo's, who hissed in pain as the injections hit against her open gunshot wound to her shoulder. Sitting next to her, watching all of this was Eric, who seemed to have been getting more and more distraught at the situation.

_"We're all fucked? Do you understand me?"_ Mara hollered at the medic and anyone who'd listen, in her native tongue, _"We... we're all going to be killed out here... and for what? I don't know.. do yo-"_

Quawe retracted as she noticed the marine went rigid in shock. Eric had suddenly and unexpectedly reached out and took the wounded marine by the hand and squeezed, a simple gesture of encouragement. With a even greater effort, Eric shuffled his wounded body over closer to her and pressed his other bloody hand against her stomach. She watched as the human, quietly calmed the quarian down from out of her infection hysteria.

"F-Focus on moving my hand up and down at a steady pace..do..don't think about anything else." The human muttered to Mara. Mara simply stared at he human, with wild eyes before finally exhaling, causing the hand to fall. She repeated the action, still staring into the dull blue eyes of the human.

He smiled to Mara, in pain but as friendly as he could muster. As the quarian he was holding slowly came back to a sense of reality, Eric looked away, and caught the turian Spectre's stare.

"Garrus... go and get Kal...get Kal..." He spoke up to the turian. Garrus looked at the man briefly. He nodded curtly and stood up, running down towards the firing line. He looked away and towards Quawe, his voice unsteady.

"Ma-Mara needs antibiotics and a sedative." Shepard managed to get out to the doctor, who was paying attention to him."I-in my bag I have a bloody pharmacy in it. I have antibiotics and mental stabilizers. They might work.. might not...C-Check if the boy has a aid kit too... H-he wont be ne-needing it."

He coughed as he threw his arm and gestured to the bag across from him. Quaera nodded and stood up, gathering the duffel bag belong to Eric. He looked away as she fell to the floor next to the KIA marine and tentatively started to dig through his many suit pockets.

Garrus came back with a visibly shaken and shaking Kal'Reegar, who looking like he was in the climax of a combat high. Kal looked ready to scream at the human for dragging him away, but Eric threw up his hand, forcing the lieutenant to pay attention.

"It's... only a matter of time... before you become c-combat ineffective." Eric observed, gesturing to the dead and wounded around him. "Get out of here. while you still can."

The twitching lieutenant looked around grimly as he too assessed the situation. quietly, he knelt by the side of Hafan'Juiana, his hand grazing against the young man's shattered mask. Yet another marine he lost under his command.

"He's right, Reegar." Kal heard Garrus speak up, his voice concerned over the situation. "We have limited arms to use against these attackers, quarter of your marines are wounded, two are dead. We're facing an extremely well armed enemy. Unknown numbers and it seems they came to this fight looking to wipe everyone here out. We all need to leave and fall back."

Kal nodded his head blankly, his hooded eyes still staring at the fallen marine.

"Quaera?" He finally returned, not needing to demand an assessment from the medical officer.

"I don't have enough medical supplies to maintain all of these wounded, let alone take anymore on." Quawe, spoke up, her voice tense as she changed the blood replacement bag for Eric. "We need to go, now."

Again, Kal'Reegar nodded. Quietly, he whispered a pray to the fallen and stood back up, tapping his commlink to life.

"Marines, suppress them. fire as hard and as fast as possible and fall back inside." He ordered, standing next the Spectre. "We're getting out of here. Legion, Sevarr, I want you to cover the main retreat for a couple minutes after we make our way out of the back exit Then bug out and rendezvous with us, Understood?"

_"Acknowledged Reegar, Lieutenant."_ Was the near instantaneous reply from the geth scout.

The barrage of fire exiting the building increased tenfold. However one by one, each of Kal'Reegar's marines fell back into the makeshift hospital. each of them finding a place to stand by the wounded. Without even waiting for an order, the marines leaned down and carefully pulled their wounded comrade in arms off the floor. Eric watched quietly as the marine in his grasp was tugged away from him.

Suddenly, a clawed talon hand fell onto his shoulder. It was Garrus and Quaera both trying to help him up. With all his strength he could muster, he shook the two of them off him. He pushed himself back down and closed his eyes.

No... I'm staying here, Garrus." He mumbled weakly, his hand clutching his stomach. Garrus reared back in surprise of the statement.

"No way in hell is anyone leaving you here, you damnable bosh'tet." The quarian medic growled, her eyes narrowed from behind plateglass. Kal nodded his head, he was not willing to leave a man behind so freely. Eric coughed and chuckled grimly at the situation.

"T..this wasn't random...This was targeted."

Kal, Quaera and Garrus stared at the human, shocked at his blunt assessment. Eric wasn't sure if it was the case or not. Right now, he was willing to stretch the truth if it meant that these headstrong idiots would leave him behind. Even if it wasn't a targeted shooting, he could at lest buy them enough time to make their escape.

"I'm shot to shit." He mumbled finally, gesturing to himself. "If I come, they follow and I slow you down... If I stay..we-well you have better chance."

He looked up and caught Garrus' eyes. He needed the turian to understand that the survival of these quarians meant more to him then his life. They were good people. Good people not meant to die because of him. Garrus' eyes hardened and slowly, he nodded as if understanding why this was happening, why the father would say this.

"He's right... Listen Reegar, Quaera, leave the dead, I'll stay with him and them." Garrus assured the two reluctant quarians. "His son is on the way, Kal here knows just what John Shepard is going to do when he knows his father is in this state." Garrus reassured the protesting medic."Between, me here and John and Tali coming soon, he'll be fine. No and get your men out of here."

Kal looked from Garrus to the silent slumped over Eric, who was muttering something incoherent. Hesitating for only a moment, he exhaled and nodded curtly. He turned back to his men gestured to them to follow his lead. They departed, leaving Garrus, Eric and Quawe alone. Eric looked up and caught the defiant glare of the quarian. He curved his lips upwards to give her a bright reassuring smile. One that told her everything was going to be all right.

He didn't believe it, neither did she.

...

* * *

...

"Contact left!"

Tali turned to her left and fired a burst from her Avenger, Cutting down a what looked like a batarian. She swung back and continued after her fiancee, a look of rage hidden behind her mask. How dare these bosh'tet's do this? All she wanted to do was turn these pirate and smuggler's heads into a fine mist.

She wondered how John could maintain a professionalism, despite the horrifying news that Eric was grievously wounded, dead even. He must have been bottling it tightly. Perhaps even in denial, like she was with her father.

"Contact above!"

Tali stopped by Shepard and together, fired a volley into the residential building. They watched as the batarian collapsed under the rounds and fell through the window, landing in front of them. She watched As John stepped over the corpse and continued his adrenaline fueled charge. Tali, despite having long limber runners legs could barely keep up with the juggernaut on a rampage.

She didn't even have time to pay mind to the four men who stumbled out into the street in an attempt to stop the Spectre. They were immediately cut down by the Spectre's rifle, She flew by the bodies like he had, not at all willing to give them a second choice. They made their choice the moment they turned their weapons on John.

"Tali, your left, Shotgun!"

Tali turned her head to find a batarian rearing down on her, a shotgun raised and firing, barely harming her shield. Still she ducked and rolled retracting her M-2 Eviscerator from off of her lower back. As she landed under the batarian, she fired once, shredding the batarian's legs off and collapsing his dead body on top of her. She snorted and turned off her olfactory filters in disgust as the dead man obviously lost his bodily functions.

Ignoring the blood and thankfully for the suit, the smell as well. Tali pushed the body off of her, her heart beating wildly as she broke back into a frantic run to catch back up to John who was still moving and firing erratically at whatever he could see. Gone was his professionalism. Replacing it was fear induced rage.

Another batarian stepped out in the street as Shepard roared on by smashing the batarian in the face with his rifle. Had Shepard stopped to check, he would have realized the batarian he hit was standing back up in a matter of seconds, his shaky rifle turning and aiming to shoot her future husband in back.

Tali's eyes widened in a sudden shock and raised her omni-tool up, sending an energy discharge that seized up the rifle and dropped the batarian's shields. She leaped in the air, tugging out her boot knife. As she reached arms length, she lashed out, slashing through the back of the batarian's neck killing him instantly.

As she pulled the knife out and slipped it back into one of her many straps. She looked up to find that John hadn't even noticed her stop. He was focused on taking out a gun emplacement that was hidden on the floor level of a residential building. Before they knew it, Shepard dropped his Mattock rifle and retracted his grenade launcher and fired, hotting an ammo cache and turning the gun emplacement and whole section of the building into a smoking crater.

As Tali caught up with John, she could hear his breathing rabidly and erratic, his chest heaving back and forth as he slung his grenade launcher and fallen Mattock rifle back onto his magnetic plates. He tugged out his M-9 Tempest, still breathing like Urdnot Grunt in the midst of a bloodrage.

Tali reached out and touched his shoulder. It was a comforting gesture that was immediately shoved off him. John stepped forward. Still breathing strangely.

"Come on out, you fucking COWARDS! Come on out and fight me!" He roared at what was left of the room.

There was a sudden cough and out came a batarian, clutching his bleeding chest. He looked up and all four of his eyes widened as he say Shepard's submachine gun raised at him. John pulled the trigger, causing the batarian to crumple. Tali cried out but was ignored completely. To her, this was plain murder.

"Come on, you animal fucks, FACE ME." Shepard uncharacteristically screamed once more at the smoking haze. "I'll kill you as quickly as I can, you ignorant, useless, stupid fucks!"

He watched as another wounded batarian staggered out, unarmed, one of his arms missing, muscle and bone shaking as the dying nerves retracted and expanded. It did not matter to Shepard what state the batarian was in; His Tempest swung outwards and shredded the man's chest. Another batarian approach out of the wreckage. firing wildly. Two rounds caught Shepard's shields. He ignored it as he literally decapitated the batarian with his next volley.

Tali followed Shepard uncertainly, her shotgun no longer holstered. As she swung it around the building interior, she could hear the noise of feet running through the wall next to them. Tali turned and fired round after round out of her Eviscerator , shredding the wall. She could hear the cry of a falling man and a sudden burst from his assault rifle, shredding through the wall she had fired through in retaliation,and then, nothing but silence.

Shepard glanced back over to her, a moment of worry splashed across his face. Tali merely rolled over and stood back up and joined John as they slowly crept through the damaged building. Tali and John, both of their weapons raised defensively, stepped through the doorway of where Tali had shot through. There, laying on the ground in a pool of his own blood, was a batarian in shattered merc armor; coughing up his blood and trying to move.

John stepped closer ad kicked the the batarian's rifle to the other side of the room. Coughing again, the batarian looked up with wide, pleading eyes.

"Pl-please.. don't kill me."

Tali bit her lip as she watched John ignore the batarian. A sudden radio crackle caused John to jump briefly, his weapon raised at the dying batarian.

"_This is Command to team ten. Is anyone there. I repeat, is anyone there? Ra.. you copy?" _

Shepard stared hard at the Commlink and leaned in, pulling the headset off of the wounded batarian. Whose frighten expression at the sight of Shepard was permanently stuck on his face.

"Command..." John breathed, returning the message. "This is Commander John Shepard, Council Spectre and a son you've pissed off. You've just fucked with the wrong father."

Shepard swung his submachine gun up and fired two shot through the wounded batarian and looked up to meet Tali's eyes. His teeth were bared, his eyes wild and frantic,his expression was unmitigated, uncontrollable rage. Tali had never felt so frightened by Shepard in all the time she had been with him.

"They never learn, Tali." He murmured to her, his voice shaking. He raised his Mattock back up and continued at a marching pace through the old quarian home, leaving Tali in the dust.

Tali wanted to say something, do something, anything. But... there was nothing that she could possibly do to make things okay for him; Just as he did for her when... when her father was killed. It was hopeless to comfort her then and it was hopeless to comfort him now.

This was his Aeleri. He simply had to press on with this nightmare.

...

* * *

...

**Fort Kimmel Military Prison; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 2172CE**

"Hello Commander, miss me?"

All Eric could do was grin at the beautifully accented voice.

"Hey, look who decided to visit me!" Eric greeted his lieutenant as brightly as his expression. "You look quite pretty out of your uniform. Like a woman."

Former Lieutenant Aashritha Latesh looked down at the simple light blue dress that clung to her body, he cheeks darkened at the thrill of her friend checking her out. Slowly, she chuckled.

"I haven't worn a uniform in a year, but thank you Eric, Your jumpsuit is quite... fashionable as well." She returned, letting go of Eric, adding aloud. "Can a Commander and his second in command go for a walk?"

She looked away from Eric and to the MP who was watching the scene unfold. He looked from Eric to Aashritha. Reluctantly he nodded and stepped towards the doors to the yard and opened them for the two. Aashritha smiled brightly and looked back to Eric. Eric exhaled and shrugged, nodding.

"I guess we can." He returned, gesturing to the guard. He chuckled, adding. "If you don't mind helping me along, Canes are a no no. Fascists."

Aashritha giggled as she noticed that the MP they passed by rolled his eyes as though he knew Eric had a flair for the dramatics.

"You know, You wouldn't be having to drag me around like a crippled idiot if you got my leg on ice sooner." Eric pointed out, a smirk on his face as he watched anger course through the woman's expression. She exhaled and looked him over, Squinting at him hard.

"Oh I'm sooooo sorry, precious." Aashritha teased the man as she carefully stepped them down the stairs and into the warm sunlight. "I was so focused on trying to keep your miserable white ass alive long enough to have the time to attach that leg back on while you were alive to use it. Do you have any idea just how much Indian blood flows through your veins because of me?"

Eric mouthed the words _Indian blood_ and a dawning look spread across his face.

"_Oh... _So that's where I got such an affinity for curry, crying over C-grade bollywood romances and driving badly came from." Eric returned, pretending as though he been in deep contemplation of his theory. Aashritha giggled mirthfully as she reached up and slapped his cheek playfully.

"Still a charmer I see. I am glad this year and a half has not changed you in the slightest." She teased him, gently bumping him. Eric snorted and nodded his head coyly.

They fell silent as they crossed the cordoned off valley, the MP hanging back behind them, but following them nonetheless. Aashritha gestured off to a bench overlooking a garden and quietly, she walked the semi disabled man towards it. He quickly let go of her and sat down, quietly relaxing in the sun.

"Do you have any idea how much I have missed you?" Eric spoke up finally; leaning back into his resting place and looked at her with a mild grin. "Here I thought I lost all my friends after Mindoir."

Ash looked Eric over with an expression of curiosity. Slowly, she chuckled at his sweet words, Surprisingly sweet, but sweet all the same.

"You thought wrong, you should have known by now that I'd stick by you." Ash returned, smiling gently as she rested her arm around him. " Though, you look... well, terrible. Do you eat?"

He glanced down and looked at himself self consciously. John was a lot of the muscle mass he once had. He had wasted away a lot of his body fat as well, leaving himself no more the forty pounds underweight. He laughed self discrepant and looked back up to concerned dark eyes.

"Sometimes." He admitted to the concerned woman "I never really have an appetite anymore."

Latesh rolled her eyes at his stubbornness to admit anything was wrong.

"I'm going to have to get you smoking some weed when you are released, get some meat on you." Aashritha mused as she joined Eric by sitting at his side. "In the mean time, Perhaps I could speak to the warden about allowing my mother to accompany me the next time I visit you. He has nothing but praise for you." She smiled, adding. "A nice large Indian dinner would put a couple of pounds on you."

Eric grinned and nodded, excited at the prospective dinner being offered. He looked onto Aashritha briefly before turning away and suppressing the sudden warm feeling that was bubbling in the pit of his stomach.

"Has... Hannah been checking up on you?" Ash spoke up finally. She watched as Eric pursed his lips and slowly, he shook his head.

"Too much heat on me to be here with me." Was Eric's casual wave off to the question asked."She has a career to focus on and has no wish to damage it, She doesn't need to waste time and respect on some asshole who got himself tossed in the brig."

The answer, as logical as it sounded to Eric, did not have the same effect for the woman sitting next to him.

"She's your wife!" Aashritha protested, her eyes wide and disbelieving at the casualness he had just spoken in. "Career or not, she ought to stand by you. Her and your children."

Eric shrugged idly.

"I get regular visits from Sarah, whenever she can come. She's growing up quite fast now." He returned, smiling at the memories of his girl, still untainted by the world. "As for John."He huffed and shrugged;Well, I have a pretty good idea what happened to his visitations. He stopped coming about two weeks after basic ended."

Eric fell silent as he noticed Ash nodded and stole his cigarette briefly. Taking a single drag before handing it back to her friend.

"I looked into it as you asked." His former lieutenant asked, her voice reluctant to admit anything to him. "John has been fast tracked straight into officer training, his mentor is Metzger. That fucking... fucking bastard. He kept his word." She hissed to the silently staring off father.

"You must get over your damn pride and go to Command." She added, her voice desperate "You must tell them what happened!"

Silently Eric took the smoke back and took another drag of his cigarette as he looked down to his lap, attempting not to look into the inquiring eyes of Aashritha Latesh who looked on him begging. He felt soft hands reach out and latched onto his free hand tightly, squeezing them carefully. Looking at the gesture briefly, Eric turned his gaze up and met Aashritha's. Her eyes were pleading for him to do something, anything to get the truth known about what occurred on Mindoir. Why didn't she understand that it was pointless? It was over years ago. To open up the past now... It would only cause repercussions he did not want to occur.

As for John... He had plenty of time to find an alternative way to protect him.

"They ordered it, remember? They purposely ordered the reprisal." Eric finally returned grimly, setting his cigarette down and looking her over.. "Besides, I'm not going to wreck the reputation of my men who died there. I sure as fuck am not going to get you implicated into anything either."

He sighed, and ran his hand through his hair, again ignoring the pleading eyes of Aashritha. "It's too late." He concluded quietly,"What's done is done. Prison has giving me quite some time to figure my next moves out."

Reluctantly, Ash nodded and decided against continuing the argument. She did not want to cause a rift between the two of them anymore then there was already. As it appeared that the semi-argument was over, Eric reached out and took a hold of his friends hand, squeezing it carefully.

"Married yet?" Eric finally spoke up, nudging the Indian girl. Ash chuckled and nudged him back, her head pushed out and was smirking at him.

"Waiting for you to divorce Hannah still." She shot back, her face lightening into a wide smile for him. "I thought you would have gotten to it by now."

Eric chuckled and leaned back into his resting place and sighed. Giving Eric the evil eye, Aashritha joined him, leaning her head onto Eric's shoulder and staring off silently ignoring Eric's eyes falling onto her for the affection shown.

"No... I'm kinda seeing this asari woman." She finally admitted to, blushing slightly as she bowed her head. "She kinda makes me forget everything that has happened. Rape victim children, the massacre. She ...helps me feel.. _okay._"

Eric raised his eyebrow. An asari lover? He would never have imagined Latesh as that sort of girl. Though, her reasoning was sound. The mind meld was touted as one the quickest ways to ease the tension of a scarred mind. Ash, like him, could use all the help she could find.

He looked over to the MP, the guards head was tilted to the side, a silent reminder that their time was up for this visitation. Shepard chuckled weakly and stood up, offering a hand to Ash which she took. She too looked over and saw the guard, instantly realizing visitation was over.

"Well I wish your asari good luck, I think she's going to need it." Eric sighed, grinning at her with the same teasing in his voice from before. Latesh looked at him. She was not angry, she was not annoyed nor smiling.

The next thing he knew, Aashritha was in tears, her arms flying out and wrapping tightly around the shocked man. Quietly, he listened to her sob into his jumpsuit as though he was on death row and his execution was in a few short hours. Slowly, uncertainly, he returned the hug, rubbing her back soothingly.

"I- I just hate seeing you in here." She murmured into his chest. "I know it's a minimum security in bloody Hawaii of all places, and to you I seem so stupid for being so concerned, but, it's a slap in the face for everything you've done. You saved god knows how many batarian lives by standing up to that monster. You lose your leg. You defend the name of your men against Metzger."

She pulled back, looking up at the bemused half smile on Eric's lips. She chuckled nervously and wiped dampened eyes, returning Eric's smile with one of her own.

"Look what you have earned in return." Her voice cracking with emotion repressed and set free at long last. "You were thrown into the brig for having a legitimate mental breakdown and now Metzger is turning your son into a carbon copy of him."

Aashritha looked down, shaking her head in disbelief.

"How is... How is any of this fair?" She muttered to him. Eric shrugged, his smile dying into a solid expression.

"You probably should have just left me to the batarians." He replied, simply staring at her. "It would have simplified matt-"

A hand flew out, cracking the Commander across the cheek. He recoiled and hissed at the sharp sudden pain. He looked back and saw the MP still stnding there, looking amused. He turned back to find Ash standing there. Heaving in a sudden uncontrolled anger for such simple words spoken by her friend.

"Do you have any... any idea how terrified I was for you?" She hissed at him, her eyes glaring hard into his. "Seeing you like that, your leg torn off, bleeding from every opening, every lacerations, all the contusions and shrapnel blasts, barely breathing, Pale as a ghost. You weren't all there when you were awake... T-the way you cried my name..."

She watched as Eric's eyes bulged. His voice suppressed a sudden urge to giggle.

"I wasn't all there?" He repeated Ash's words. "I wasn't all there... get it?"

He started cackling at the incredibly lame pun. Latesh groaned and started to pull away from him. She was caught before she could escape his presence, arms looped around her and tugged her into his chest. They stood their silently for a good long minute and just as Ash relaxed into his chest, She did not need him to say anything. She knew he was grateful without using any words at all.

He pulled back, examining her carefully.

"If you don't come back soon with your mother and cook me that dinner you promised, I'm going to go Gandhi on you." He pointedly reminded the woman. Aashritha's grim face broke into a vivid smile for Eric. Slowly, she nodded her head and stepped back and out of his arms.

"I will see you soon, Commander." She swore softly to him. "I promise."

She leaned inwards and pressed her soft lips against his grizzled and scarred cheek, much like she had on Mindoir, though, thankfully much less bloody. Eric smiled as he watched her step away. Reluctantly, she turned away and followed the MP out of the yard.

Eric sighed as he sat back down, dazed as he fell back at the one constant thought on his mind from the moment Metzger proclaimed it, to this very moment: How to save his son from himself.

**...**

* * *

**...**

"You, turian, drop your weapon and stand up!"

Garrus tensed as the voice died away. Giving Eric one appraising look, Garrus stood up slowly, his hands raised in the air. With care, he turned slowly around, only to find himself staring at well over ten Mercs, all of them standing their, rifles raised and slightly in front of a leader a pistol, and young batarian clutching in his hands a sniper rifle.

He turned his head over to glance at Eric, his head slumped and clutching his wound. He turned back to the group facing him down and took a very cautious step forward.

"I'm unarmed, batarian; I'm just a doctor." Garrus spoke up tentatively, looking from batarian to batarian. "I need to get back to my wounded man. Please."

"Where are your quarians?" The captain demanded, his eyes looking around the room for any signs of deception.

"Gone, they don't need to die over this." the Spectre returned, crossing his arms. "You're a mercenary captain, right? You want to keep your boys alive just as much as this man here wanted to spare his from this clearly targeted attack."

The batarian stared at the mess of a human half laying on the floor. Slowly, he nodded.

"We won't pursue the quarians back to their settlement, you're right about that," The batarian captain agreed, lowering his pistol and stepping past his men. He gestured to the sniper, adding. "This man here has paid a lot of money to get this human in his rifle scope. But no where near enough to tangle with an organized military force."

Garrus chuckled nervously and nodded his head. He was immediately joined by the Captain. There was a sudden and violent cough from behind him and low groan that broke the laughter. He glanced back and noticed that Eric's head swayed to the side, his hand clutching the wound. The Spectre turned back to face the batarian captain, who looked on in a strange sympathy for the wounded man. Garrus stepped forward, ignoring the batarian grunts behind the captain raising their weapons.

"Will you let me treat him?" The turian tried to reason with the numerically superior batarians. "I know you deem him marked by your client, but I still have a responsibility to keep him alive. Just like you and your men."

The captain's eyes blinked simultaneously as he quietly observed the turian. Slowly, he turned back to the sniper rifle wielding man. The sniper merely stared downwards at the wounded man. He tilted his head slowly to the right and huffed at the sight of the disgusting human.

"I need to talk to this bastard." The young man spoke up to no on in particular. "Get him focused and keep him alive. For now."

Garrus waited briefly for approval from the batarian captain before turning back and slumping down to Eric's side. quietly changing the blood replacement bag and rechecking the wounds the way Quaera showed him too. Quietly, he hoped to the spirits watching over him that the second Spectre on Rannoch would show up and deal with this problem. He was completely out of options the moment the batarians entered the room unopposed.

Footsteps came up behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to find that the batarian with the contract out on Eric was behind him. His weapon was lowered as he seemed to have been digging into his pocket.

"Give him this." The batarian grunted from behind him. "It'll wake his ass up properly."

Garrus glanced at the injector in the batarian's hand. He had seen it before during his service. Some of his fellow soldiers would take it before missions. Force the mind to be alert and running at two hundred percent faster then a mind ought to be functioning at. The drug, while borderline safe for the most healthiest of turian soldiers, would undoubtedly be disastrous for a human shot up and barely functional as he was.

"It's a Dextro-amphetamine." Garrus spoke up, his voice trying to remain neutral, as to not cause the turian trouble. "I can't give this to him, he's in poor shape as it is."

Despite him wanting to remain calm, it did not work. Garrus' words only served to enrage the young batarian.

"I DON'T CARE, DO IT, YOU MISERABLE FUCK! GIVE HIM THE DAMN INJECTION!" The batarian roared, his sniper rifle butt lashed out and connected against Garrus' face. His head flung to one side as his body crumpled to the floor next to the elder human.

Garrus opened his eyes and groaned. He was trying his best not to reveal just the kind of man he really was to the batarians. He had the drop on them. He could have kicked out this batarian son of a bitch's legs, grabbed the pistol in his holster and his sniper rifle, and killed the team standing behind him with little difficulty.

The problem was Eric. There was so many automatic weapons pointing at them that undoubtedly, he would be killed. So, he relax and wiped his mandible with his talon. There would be no massacre from him today. No, he'd leave it up to Shepard, the one man Special Forces team. Then there was Tali, who'd, like clockwork, would follow after her future husband. The quarian without a father and about to lose one all over again.

Inwardly, Garrus smirked. The blood would soon be flowing. It was only a matter of time.

He looked up and noticed a hand reaching out and offering to help him back up. It was the batarian mercenary captain. He looked almost regretful of Garrus' state. With a sigh, he took the hand and stood back up. He pushed past the captain and stood there defensively in front of Eric, who still seemed unaware of what was happening around him. The captain entered the line of view once again, standing next to the visibly younger batarian.

"He's not getting out of this alive, turian." The captain spoke up, breaking the silence. "Your life doesn't need to end for a dead man walking... Well, you get my drift."

Garrus did not reply to the remark. Instead, he turned to the other batarian, who was glaring down at the human with more hate then he could fathom, more hate then he felt for Sidonus, or Saleon. It was... unnerving. Reluctant, Garrus' talon uncurled and stretched out to the batarian. He felt the syringe slip into his hand.

He turned away from the batarians, and knelt down next to Eric, his free hand grabbing his pale arm and outstretching it for the others to witness. He looked up briefly to the captain and the sniper, and silently, slipped the syringe into Eric' forearm.

The effect was near instantaneous. Whatever it was had a definite kick. He watched Eric's pupils dilate and focus; A sudden exhale escaped his lips, and out of nowhere, his head turned to face the startled batarians. Garrus ignored the vicelike grip around his forearm from the suddenly alert human.

He exhaled and then inhaled looking down at his stomach wound, wrapped heavily in bloodied gauze and still pulsing with a dull ache. He ignored the pain as he took a long inhale with his noise.

"That stench, dead fish and body order. I know it way too well." Eric groaned out, his first words to the batarians looming over them. He ignored the sudden barking growl coming from the men only meters from him. Garrus did his best to suppress a smirk.

Eric was back, shot up, barely alive, but still defiant as he had been before he was hit. Ignoring the batarian with the rifle in hand standing over him, he looked back down at the pool of his own blood and blinked. Quietly, he wiped his eyes as he shuffled his wounded body in place his hand falling to his dull pain in his stomach.

"I bet you're curious why you're sitting in a pool of your own blood right now." He heard a younger rough voice call out to him. batarian like the other.

Eric shrugged idly and dug his bloodied hand into his pant pocket, tugging out a pack of smokes. Limply, he pushed one into his lips and searched for a lighter that wasn't there. Before he knew it, a lighter was tossed into his lap. He looked up to see that the thrower was the batarian, all his eyes glaring at him.

"The thought crossed my mind." Eric admitted, lighting the cigarette and inhaling as strong as he could. Slowly, he shrugged "But... I can't say I'm exactly surprised that my life would be ended this way. Go on, get it over with, kid."

Silence fell over the bullet riddled, blood coated room. The batarian stared, surprised at the statement, Garrus looked onto his best friends father with a quiet awe at his casualness over his impending death. It was as though Eric didn't give a shit about the vast differences between life and death.

"You don't remember me, do you?" The batarian growled, leaning down and gripping the human by his throat, his face inches from Eric's. "You don't remember that day on Mindoir. You came into my town, rounded everyone up, marched them to their deaths. You and your commanding officer, the General."

Eric tilted his head, his eyes half open as he held his watchful stare on the batarian. He ignored the sudden shocked stare from the turian next to him. Instead, he pulled his cigarette up to his lips and took another drag, gently blowing it into the aggressive batarians face. Quietly, he blocked out the memories of Mindoir as far and as deep into his mind as he could.

"I rounded up a lot of batarians, kid. As for the esteemed Metzger, Well, If you want my blessing to kill him, you have it." He replied, the cigarette dangling from his lips precariously. The batarian curled his lips into a sneer and let go of the human's neck, turning away back to the silently watching mercenaries.

"No..too well protected, too public." The batarian spoke up, annoyed. He turned back, adding. "He pulled the trigger, but you were the one who rounded my mother up, my sister. My father. He lost it."

Garrus heard a sudden inhale coming from Eric. He watched as the human's eyes went wide as a memory of the past broke through the resolve of forgetting and came back up to the surface.

"You're... You're Dovok's son."

The son of Sovak Dovok chuckled humorlessly, lowering his sniper rifle away from the sitting human.

"So you do remember it." Dovok's son returned. his voice low with unwavering rage for the former Commander. "You remember my father's confession, how he begged and pleaded to both of you, to your marines for mercy. He confessed a false crime."

Eric snorted and stubbed out his cigarette.

"He was slaver, Dovok." He muttered to himself, loud enough for the kid to hear him. "What happened-"

Before anyone knew it, Dovok reared back and lashed out, his arms grabbing the wounded human by his neck and yanked him over. forcing Eric to be face to face with his attacker.

"My father was a FARMER, you fascist piece of shit!" The batarian screamed in Shepard's face. "He was an agricultural farmer who sold his crops to humans!"

The young man let go of Eric, pushing him hard against the wall. Eric hissed and winced as pain jolted through his body. He looked up and say the batarian had turned away, breathing heavily as rage coursed through him. Suddenly he turned back, his expression was one of devastation.

"My father never raised a hand in anger against any man in his life." The boy continued, tears threatening to escape his many eyes. He never hated your people, he never followed, nor did he believe in the batarian caste system! He hated Slavery, his ancestors were once ENSLAVED in that system."

Dovok expressed sharp, shaking his head as he stared down the human.

"He thought the Verge was big enough for the humans and batarians could share together. He loved his wife, he loved his children..."

The room fell silent as the exchange between the human and batarian fell silent as they simply stared at each other. Eric's tired defiance slowly ceased to be present. His lips quirked up into a look of sudden regret. The son of Dovok looked away and dried his eyes. Slowly, he shook his head again and huffed.

"My father was a good man... He would have said absolutely anything to save my mother and my sister. Slaver..." He trailed off, huffing again indigently at the words. "How dare you make an assumption like that."

Dovok turned back to the batarian captain, who nodded. Silently, the batarian grabbed Garrus' shoulder, tugging him away. Garrus tightened up and turned to look at the human. Eric's expression was on of indifference to his situation. It was his silent urge for the Spectre to leave him to his fate.

Garrus turned back to the captain, and nodded reluctantly following the captain away from the human and the batarian. Eric watched silently as the group left the two by themselves. He turned back to find that the young man was standing there, simply staring at the human like he was the devil. Eric sighed silently, and took a painful step closer.

"Tell me about him." Eric spoke up, causing the batarian to narrow his eyes. "Your father, Tell me about him. I want to know the kind of man he was."

The batarian snarled, his lips curled and teeth baring at the human asking the question.

"You have no right to know anymore then I've giving you."

Eric wordlessly nodded his head and looked away, down towards the wound. It appeared to have been bleeding gain, the red stain on the bandage becoming more and more visible. It would not matter much however, he was merely awaiting his death at this point. Nothing could save his from his past.

"When I was seven, I had made friends with a boy down in Saharta. Human." The batarian spoke up, surprising Eric. "I... I...try to remember his name, but I just can't.. I was so young, all I remember is the attack. I... I came home one day after playing with him and several older boys cornered me, beat me up for playing with the two eyed freaks. Busted my lip open good."

"My father found me crying when he came home that day. I thought I was in trouble actually, showing such weakness, but, No... He at me down on the edge of the bathtub and washed my injuries for me. He listened to everything I had to say. I told him I would never go back and play with the human again. Father... he just..he shook his head told me. _"Makox, you cannot fall prey to the bullies who feel so upset at the concept of cooperation, you have to stand up for something you believe in, Whether it's principal, for love, even for simple friendship. Never compromise when the end results are beneficial for everyone."_

Makox Dovok shook his head yet again, his expression blank as he looked back up and caught the sympathetic gaze of the former Alliance Officer.

"After father and mother died. The only place I could think of going was to Saharta." Makox admitted ruefully, the rifle in his hands wavering. "I could.. I could hide with him and my sister Rivare...but, he was gone, like my parents.. nothing but embers and ash remained."

Eric watched as the rifle bolted up and was slipped onto the sniper's magnetic holster Makox looked away and wandered slowly from Eric. His head bowed into his hands. Eric knew this look. Alien or not, it was the galactic symbol of regret, of pushing your past as far away as possible.

Makox was right to kill him. His actions, his compliance had destroyed this young man completely.

**...**

* * *

**...**

John threw his hand up into a fist, a silent order for Tali too stop moving. Together they crouched and stalked towards the epicenter of the ambush. The building was bellowing smoke and blasted apart from the brief, yet violent siege. There was a full platoon standing outside. Smoking and talking, all while standing guard.

All of them surrounding quite possibly the ugliest turian in existence. Garrus Vakarian. John brother in all but blood. He looked bemused, as he exhaled on a cigarette offered by a batarian. Almost amused at the thought of being held prisoner by a group of boy scout, rent-a-goons. John looked to Tali and stood up. Between The group being flanked by Tali and him, with Garrus, the goddamn turian killing machine in the middle, these four eyed fucks wouldn't stand a stance.

John stepped out of cover, his rifle raised at hem. Tali joined him. Her omni-tool ready in one hand, the other clutching her predator heavy pistol. The batarians looked up and started barking to one another, their cigarettes fell and their rifles were raised. One man stepped forward, His hand gripping Garrus' armor, tugging him to the front of the group. Garrus merely smirked and shrugged at his precarious situation.

"Sorry, Shepard. Didn't want to risk your dad." Garrus spoke up, a sad note in his voice. John nodded his head and turned to batarian next to him

"Command, I presume?" John called out to him. His voice dripping in sarcastic rage. The Commander looked back to his men briefly and he nodded.

"Yes, and you aren't going to be doing anything funny." The Captain of the Mercenaries shot back to the human. "I don't want to shoot your father's doctor, but I will."

Tali and John shared a look at the man's words. Slowly, he chuckled without any humor present.

"You idiots realize the turian is a Council Spectre, right?" John spoke up finally, his rifle still raised at the leader of the group. The batarian's eyes went wide as he rounded onto the turian in question. Garrus merely smirked and again, he shrugged.

"What can I say, Captain?" Garrus mused simply. "I'm an expert liar."

Before the batarian captain knew it, Garrus had reached out snatched the batarian's pistol out of his belt and pressed it against the captain's head, he wrapped his hands around the Captains neck and turned him to face his men who had raised their weapons at him. Slowly, he stepped backwards, the man still his shield.

"Garrus. Is my father alright?" Shepard called out as the turian backed to John and Tali's side.

With a hard kick. Garrus shoved the batarian back towards his men, causing him to stumble and fall onto the ground. The turian held his sidearm up, still daring the bastards to make a move again him. When he stood next to Shepard, he shook his head, his expression uncertain.

"I don't know, Shepard. They hit hm with a sniper round to the stomach." Garrus spoke finally. He did not mean too, but, he chuckled, adding. "Your father is a tough old bastard, isn't he? They pumped him with enough amphetamine to get him lucid. First thing he does is bait these assholes into killing him."

John didn't laugh like Garrus, instead he swung his rifle around and aimed at the now standing mercenary captain. He swung his arms up, a gesture for calm to be maintained.

"Not my idea, human: The clients." He flat out stated, his expression distasteful. "Sick little shit wanted to torment him before he killed him."

John's eyes narrowed at the words, however he did not reply. Instead he turned to Tali and nodded. Slowly, hey stepped forward, their weapons against their chests. The batarians behind the captain tightened their ranks, looking ready to stop the two Spectres and the quarian with quite possibly the largest body count in many centuries from passing.

John stepped forward, undeterred and pushed his face into the Captains, he's teeth bearing at the son of a bitch.

"I just wiped out three of your fireteams, terrorist." John reminded the captian and the Mercs behind him. "I'm quite okay with killing the rest of your boys if they continue to point their weapons at me. I've killed Reapers, a hell of a lot of them. You're nothing more then dog shit under my boots."

The captain blinked. The Spectre was not one to make idle threats anymore. this was the ultimatum. Die for some prick who bit off more then he could chew, or live to see another day.

Death, as it was, was never preferable.

"We weren't paid enough to tangle with the quarian marines." He finally returned, glaring into John's eyes. "We sure as fuck weren't paid enough to fight a couple of Spectres. Come on boys, we're leaving."

His men could not have been more thrilled at the order. One by one, the batarians departed the smaller groups company quickly. The last one to leave was the Captain of the mercenary group. As he wandered by Shepard, John leaned into his path and nudged him hard with his shoulder blade.

"Don't forget your dead, Merc." John growled at the batarian. "My mate and I left quite a mess for you lot."

The Captain turned back to face Shepard and Tali. His eyes were not an expression of rage or hate for the human and quarian, but of loss and despair for the many men shot down by a rampaging son. He turned away ad followed his mercenaries closely, leaving John, Tali and Garrus in an uncomfortable silence. John looked downwards briefly as he felt a long arm wrap around his waist.

"Come on, John, we will finish this." Tali murmured. John looked her over briefly and slowly, he nodded. It was time to find out if he would be taking his father out of this ruined building on a stretcher or in a bodybag...

"Mate?" Garrus questioned, his voice lightening in hope to lighten the mood of the fuming human. "When did you become a turian? It's about time."

Shepard didn't laugh. Instead he merely shrugged.

"Sounded more intimidating." Shepard explained as he continued up the steps, Tali at his side, still holding him. "Garrus, stay here. If Dad is tripping, then being turian isn't a good idea..."

There was no protest from Garrus, who nodded and took a seat, while the human and quarian mates continued inside. This was Shepard job now.

**...**

* * *

**...**

"I failed my father. He would have beaten me if he saw me now. Ready to kill you so easily. He would have been ashamed."

Eric turned to find Makox was sitting on the floor. His back against the wall opposite to him. On his knee was his pistol, aiming loosely at the architect. Eric lit another cigarette up and took a long drag, carefully eying the batarian.

"If it makes you feel better, we all fail our fathers in time." Eric murmured back to the young man. "It's nearly always inevitable in the end."

He noticed Makox's distant gaze refocus and turned to face the older human. Quietly, Eric threw him his pack of cigarettes and the batarian's lighter back to him.

"My father and I... we were never on good terms, this was especially true after my mother hung herself." Eric admitted, his voice as distant as the look on Makox's face. "But... once... he told me to become an architect, he said so many people destroyed, why not help create? to build a better future."

Eric snorted and shook his head.

"I told him to piss off and I went and joined the army." He continued, looking both amused ad regretful, as the smile on his lips died. "After.. this.. all of this, I finally listened and followed his example. Too late... much.. much too late..."

He looked away and shook his head, ignoring the blood now seeping freely out of the medical wrap.

"I don't regret it one bit, Dovok. Serving in the Alliance." He stated, his eyes turning back up to face the batarian once more. "I met my wife, I have children, a grandchild now. Never would I turn away enlistment if I was my eighteen year old self again. I never regretted my choice to serve. I regret my decisions when I served."

Slowly, a strange smile spread across Eric's lips.

"My son... I love him." He admitted quietly "I wanted him to be safe. I wanted him to never follow my path into the military. But he did, because of that, he followed down a path laid by him by the same monster that tricked me. He swallowed Metzger's perverted Darwinism just as willingly as I did. It... It consumed him. He became me... No... he became him."

Eric stood back up slowly, his back sliding against the wall. He exhaled shakily as he ignored the batarian following his posture change.

"Are you a father yet?" He asked the batarian. Makox stared at the human, reason his father was dead, for a good long moment before finally, he shook his head. Eric nodded, grimly satisfied.

"Then you have no idea how horrifying it is to see your boy, your beautiful, baby boy who you raised, protected and nurtured, perverted into a mirror image of not just me, but the monster who manipulated him as well." He stated, gritting his teeth s the dull throbbing pain became sharper and sharper.

"My son, He doesn't regret his choice to serve, just like his old man. It led him to find his future wife." Eric went on, his eyes drooping as he weakly tried to dry swallow the knot in his throat. "But... neither does he regret his choices. He doesn't understand the path he took. Not yet. But he will."

Makok looked on the regretful father curiously.

"Will you tell him that?" He asked, his voice almost childlike in its curiousity.

Eric exhaled a single 'ha' at the confused looking young man and shook his head, blinking rapidly as he tried to remain standing. His legs felt numb, how they were still supporting him was a surprise to him.

"Never. I don't have the guts too." He chuckled weakly, taking a step closer to the batarian. "Besides, I'm about to be executed, remember?"

He watched as Makox heated up in embarrassment. Slowly, he limped over to the batarian, his eyes staring gently into the young man's.

"So, what do you plan on doing." He whispered aloud, his head tilted.

As Eric continued moving forward. The batarian raised his handgun up, his second hand reaching around and gripping it as well, steadily his aim at the human. Eric exhaled softly. His lips still in a mournful smile. Still his legs moved, stepping closer to the batarian with the vendetta.

This was it. Endgame.

"If it makes you feel better. I've never once not thought about what happened. It has followed me day after day ever since it happened." He admitted, unblinking as he felt the gun barrel pressed against his chest tightly. "Your father... Your mother... I wish I could have done something, anything, to save them. I'm sorry... I orphaned you, you and your sister. I... I can never be forgiven by you. If killing me brings you some sense of closure. Then do it, pull the trigger. I won't feel it, nor will I be able hold it against you."

Eric fell silent, his hand raising outwards, a silent sign of his readiness to die.

Makox took a step back, his passive expression washed away into a look of sheer hatred for the human. His pistol raised upwards and aimed at Eric's head. Slowly, he clicked the safety off and pushed the gun forward, his hands shook with fury as he tried to complete what he sought ou to do today. Destroy one of the men who destroyed his family.

Eric stood there, silently listening to the batarian's breath growing more and more ragged with uncertainty. He felt the cold barrel press against his temple. He said nothing, did nothing, regretted nothing.

Instead. He accepted and he waited.

The young man exhaled sharply and after a tense moment deliberation: He lowered his weapon slowly. Eric watched, dumbfounded at the gesture of mercy displayed by the batarian who had every reason, every right to shoot him down for what he did.

"I imagine you live through your own personal hell for what you were involved in." Makok muttered to him. He ignored Eric nodding his head in agreement Eric lowered his hands, gently, he reached out and pressed them against Makok's shoulder.

"You were worried about your father's reaction to this mess?" Eric whispered, his voice edged with a slight smile in his words. I-I think he would be unbelievably proud of you right now."

Makox looked up and met the bemused human's smile. Makok looked over the sniper wound he inflicted on Shepard. Queitly, lowered his head once again, half in shame, half unsure if he had done the right thing. He shrugged, his pistol hanging at his side, aiming loosely at the floor.

"I should have just listened to Rivare." He spoke softly to himself, his pistol slipping back into its holster as Makok Dovok met Eric's eyes once more. "She told me vengeance wasn't going to bring our parents back, it wasn't going to save them or bring closure. I was too stubborn to list-

A sudden burst was suddenly and unexpectedly fired off. Three rounds connected and shattered through Makok's body. The spray of batarian blood splattered across Eric, who was gaping in shock and rage. Makok coughed and looked down, wide eyed. He watched silently as smoke from seared flesh came billowing out softly, mixing with the blood flowing freely from his chest.

A forth shot rung out, entering through the side of his head. Eric watched in unmitigated horror as the young man's body collapsed, his life fading away before he could hit the floor.

Shepard looked up, numb, from shock, numb from the drugs, numb from the bloodloss and inconsolable grief and there, in front of his eyes, stood his former Commanding Officer, Major Jurgen Metzger. His predator pistol lowered down at the dead batarian, his expression was one of hatred for the batarian, the same hatred he had witnessed in Makox's only minutes ago. Eric looked away from Metzger's expression, not noticing that it had softened into a look of worry and fear for him. Eric's legs collapsed as he too fell onto the hard ground, damp and lukewarm from the batarians pooling blood.

"Dad?...Dad!" Metzger called out, his pistol clattering to the floor as he rushed to his Eric's side. "Dad, stay awake, we're getting you out of here!"

As Metzger wrapped his arms around him, Eric lashed out with as much violence as he could muster. He slammed his fist as hard as he could into the bastard's pushed the man off him and with all his might as he ignored the pain from his wound reopening, tearing through bandage plastic wrapping. Metzger landed on top of Mokok's corpse, Eric followed, landing on top of the psychotic marine officer.

"How could you do that, Metzger! How fucking dare, you could do that!" Eric screamed a the top his lungs, his fists connecting against the Major's face over and over and over again, leaving his fists bruising and bloody. He did not register that Metzger wasn't retaliating.

He kept punching the bastard. He watched with wild eyes as he snapped his nose, spurting blood onto him. He he heard a cheekbone break under his fists. Eric screamed as he continued to slam the man's face in. He ignored his own wrist breaking as he hit, pounded, smashed. Makok shouldn't have died, not another, not a-FUCKING-nother.

He postponed this day for twenty years. He was going to kill this twisted fuck.

As he hit, he suddenly felt arms, soft and feminine pulled him off. There was a 'oof!' as the voice's body fell on the floor with him on top of her. He felt himself shimmied upwards and pressed into a rubberlike body suit. He looked up, his eyes wild and wide as she stared up and found himself looking into Aashritha Latesh's gentle, concerned eyes.

"Eric." She whispered gently, her arms wrapping around his waist. "Eric... just relax... you're safe now, it's going to be alright.."

He paid no mind to Ash as she clutched his wound, placing pressure over it. looked up from her and over to the fallen Metzger. He paid no mind to Ash screaming to him, "Keelah...John, JOHN? Are you alright? We need to get him out of here. He's not doing well.

Eric did not reply, he merely stared up into the gentle expression, his body shaking his breathing shallow. Slowly, he closed his eyes and exhaled, sleep overtaking the wounded man. With the last moments of consciousness, he opened his mouth and, with all the effort he possessed, he breathed.

_"Failed again, Ash..."_

**...**

* * *

**...**

**ლ(****ಠ****益****ಠ****ლ)**

**About time I got this damn chapter done with. Sorry if you have noticed some mistakes. My beta is overwhelmed. You lot overwork him! Thank you Sergius for when you complete my betaing. Ill try to write a new skeletons first, but, you never know... I have a new Magic x-box360 chapter half done. **

_"GAAAAAARRRR; I CAN'T BELIEVE JOHN BETRAYED US! I LOVED HIM AND HE LOVED ME AND NOW HE'S CERBERUS. I HATE HIM, I HATE HIM. WHEN I BECOME SPECTRE IMMA GONNA 'RREST HIM LIKE THE BETRAYER HE IS. HUUUR DURRR..."_

**Yes Ashley lovers, I got your backs :)  
**

**As always, drop a review. I know you,re reading..**

**oh, and thanks for reading**

**DarkDanny**


	4. Eric's Acceptance

**Bet you didn't think I'd be back.**

**Had been working on this for a while. Glad it's done. As a forewarning, it may be best to read my Ballad of Marhna'Prince if you haven't. Some characters are from that story as well and it'll give you somewhat better understanding of one of the sections below.**

**I have incorporated some of ME3... I mean some. This is considered AU. Eventually this series will see a ME3 fic. but that is far off. I think you can probably imagine what I think of that game at he moment...**

**...**

**Chapter Four: Eric's Acceptance**

* * *

**...**

**Fort Kimmel Military Prison, May 17th 2174**

_"Daddy!"_

Eric looked up as he focused on limping out of the prison gate leading out of Fort Kimmel military prison. The blur was approaching him faster then he had wanted or he thought he could handle.

Before he knew it, little Sarah, who was no longer little was on top of him, causing him to stumble and collapse under her weight and his lack of strength. No longer the curious eleven year old he had left behind, she was now fourteen. Her stout tomboy body replaced with a tall, steadily curving girl. She was quickly growing to become a mirror image of her mother. She would be a heartbreaker as she grew up.

It actually made Eric somewhat nervous. Heh. It was the first concern he had other then John. Now he realized he would be having to fight off hormonal teenage boys or girls from hooking up with his baby girl. It suddenly made his concerns for John seem inconsequential in comparison.

He laughed slightly for her, showing his Sarah that her father was still sort of the same man who went inside three years ago. He leaned in, kissing his little girl on the top of her forehead and shakily tried to stand back up. Sarah took the hint and crawled off her father, fastening her arm around his waist to help.

"Sarah, didn't I ask you not to grow up? It's making me feel old." Eric complained, earning a renewed giggle from his daughter.

"You are _old_." Sarah reminded him, causing Eric to sigh loudly as he found his footing once again, his body leaning on his cane and Sarah.

"You're not suppose to say _thaaat_." He complained, again earning the soft laughter of his little girl.

Back up now, he found himself standing face to face with Hannah, who was smiling only in the slightly. Eric chuckled, still leaning on his cane as he took the image in. She was now a captain it seemed. Had he been in the marines, he might have been impressed.

"Hello, Eric." Hannah greeted curtly, reaching up to peck her husband's lips chastely. "Did you learn your lesson in there?"

Eric nodded gravely.

"Yeah, I should have finished the job with the son of a bitch." He returned, grinning playfully as his daughter who again laughed at his words, completely unaware how dangerously serious he was being. Hannah, who knew when her husband was itching for blood, frowned sightly but decided to simply let his words slide.

"Perhaps he should have. I doubt he'd last a round with Jürgen" A voice called out, replying to him.

There, standing by the car was none other then his boy. Freshly promoted Service Chief John Shepard. Wearing full dress uniform, and standing there as though trying to impress and intimidate his father. On his face was he same look of ruthless arrogance his former commander wore. Unlike his former Commander however, Eric felt a chill of fear by the better built, taller, younger man. Unlike Metzger, John didn't look like the type to play with his enemies. Only killed them.

Such was the way of youth. Much less incline to consider their actions, no matter how horrific their actions were. But that would change. Eric knew that for a fact. John lacked sociopathic disinterest that his boss had.

One day, like Eric, he too would snap.

"Hello son. I missed you." Eric greeted his boy, limping over towards his son with a facade of calm. John simply stared at the old man.

"And I care, how?" Was John's simple reply as Eric stopped in front of him.

So, Aashritha's finding were correct, fuck. Why couldn't she have been wrong about John? Why couldn't she have stopped this years ago? He was jailed and she was his best friend. She could have at least done him this favor. Eric rubbed his head, he wasn't quite what he could say to his son. He already knew it would have been a futile conversation. Still, he deserved to know what his father thought.

"I see he's gotten to you better then I." Eric observed, his expression neutral, bordering on pity for the boy standing in front of him.

"Yeah." John agreed, giving his father a sarcastic smirk. "You won't see me getting blown up while letting forty five of my men die because I'd rather tip toe around the blinks."

Despite the barb nearly getting through to him. All Eric could do was laugh. It hurt him to do so, laugh at the truth, but that was all he could do without lashing out and striking his boy, further alienating him. Besides, the laughter seemed to have only further enraged the younger man.

"I don't see why you're laughing." John stated, his eyes glaring as his lips curled. "Look at you. You look like a 1960's reject." He snorted in disgust, gesturing to Eric's long hair and beard, adding. "No wonder mother is contemplating using her maiden name. You're an joke. A useless failure, and you stand there and laugh."

Eric's eyes darted from John to Hannah who stood behind John motionlessly. He didn't need words from his wife to know that John's statement was true. He had suspected she'd do that the entire time he was incarcerated. Turned back to John, his smile spreading to a grin.

"I'm laughing because how much you remind me of me when I was your age." Eric retorted, still grinning at his boy like the words hadn't harmed him. "Full of piss and vinegar_, look how tough I am in my uniform. Wearing it means I get to murder who ever I want out in the field and not worry about it._"

"Fuck you, you condescending asshole. When you were my age... Wasn't that shortly after Grandma hang herself?" John sneered tauntingly. "No wonder, I always figured she was smart to see what she birthe-."

Before John knew it. a tiny hand backhanded him hard enough to back his head whip to one side. It was Sarah, standing defensively in front of her father. Her eyes hot as boiling rage coursed through her

"John, you overbloated, arrogant prick. you said you wouldn't do this! You promised me!" Sarah hissed, glaring up at her older brother. Unlike Eric, she had no fear for her sibling. If she only knew the kind of mentor Jürgen Metzger was to John, she probably would have reversed her bravery.

John didn't reply to his sister. Regardless, Eric pulled back Sarah back from the unreadable boy standing in front of him.

"Sarah, Your brother is right to an opinion about me." Eric shushed his little girl as he stared into his son's eyes. He pulled her into a sideways hug as they pushed past the imposing Marine. He gazed over his shoulder briefly before adding, "Even if he has nothing to back his words up with."

Oh god. How Eric came to rue his words that day.

**...**

* * *

**...**

To see his own father was hooked up to so many machines. It frightened the man on the other side of the containment glass, a man who had killed Reapers and lived to see peace again.

"I should have gotten to him faster." He murmured more to himself then to others occupying the room. 'If I only got to him faster."

Hands wrapped around him and a body was pressed tightly into his back.

"You did the best you could, John. He's going to be alright."

John Shepard shook his head, his hand running over his tenderized face, taking care not to touch his broken nose. His father, though wounded and much older then John still packed quite the punch. He could feel as Tali's long arms wrap around his around his waist, nuzzling her helmetless head against his shoulder as they watched his father laying in front of him, placed in a medically induced coma.

A day had past since John and Tali rescued his father from those bastards and still there was no change in his condition. John had refused to leave where he stood. only relenting so that the quarian medical teams could treat his injuries. Such a stubborn bosh'tet.

"How is he doing?"

They both looked up, both human and quarian's face broke into a smile for young quarian woman standing in the room next to them. Quawe'Quaera. Marhna'Prince's little sister and one of the reason's Eric was still alive. Her arms were crossed as she watched over her human patient in a display of both modest feeling of being the one to keep him alive and in great fear that it would not remain that way.

With a small kiss planted on John's stubbled and bruised cheek, she stood up and walked over to join the medical student.

"Quawe'Quaera, You should be relaxing." Tali spoke gently, her hand pressing against the small of Quawe's back. "You have done more then enough. I am certain Eric Shepard would not want you spending your days watching over him. I imagine he might have a few choice words if he caught you like this."

Quawe giggled softly, nodding her head.

"Well of course he would. He spent much of his time bad mouthing Kal'Reeger for being so uptight." She agreed with the Engineer, who chuckled. "But, he made me a promise that he would pull through, so I am staying. I just left for a bit because I needed to go get cleaned up... so much blood spilled over a pointless feud."

She sighed.

"Got a call from Marhna while I was gone. Practically told her what happened the moment she spoke. You know how easy it is to spill your secrets to her." The intern spoke again to Tali, who nodded in agreement. "She sends her and David's best wishes. They'll be on Rannoch in two days time."

"I have not seen her in three years. I have missed her greatly." Tali replied.

John, breaking his reverent watching over his unconscious father, turned back, his blacked out eyes focusing on the quarian standing next to his future wife.

"Garrus mentioned you were the one keeping him alive." John spoke to the younger quarian. "Thank you, Quawe. I owe you so much."

Quawe'Quaera bowed her helmet, appearing somewhere between flattered, humbled and utterly embarrassed by the galactic hero's sudden attention and praise for her quick action to save one of his loved ones.

"Keeping people alive is kinda apart of the job." Quawe mumbled, just loud enough for the human to hear it. "Otherwise I'd make a pretty lousy physician."

A high strung and very nervous giggle escaped the suddenly mortified interns vocal modulator. John merely allowed her a single half smile before looked away, turning back to watch over his father. Tali, who was watching the whole exchange, tried to suppress the sudden urge to point out how awful awkward Quawe was.

"Regardless, if there is anything you ever need, do not hesitate to ask." Tali spoke up, regaining the younger quarian's attention. Quawe shuffled nervously, her hands rubbing together.

"Well." She whispered, shooting a look to the inattentive human. "I would not say no to a date with your future husband."

Quawe paused frozen as Tali stood unnaturally still, as though sizing the young woman up very carefully. Like she had instantly lost all respect for what she had done by the single question she asked.

"Oh... this is such a horrible time to make a joke." She quickly whispered, hoping beyond hope that Tali would listen. "I am so sorry. Please, just forget it."

Instead of the fist she imagined would smash open her mask, Tali's hand fell on to Quawe's shoulder in a surprising display of warm understanding.

"Like I said, we owe you a great deal." The former admiral repeated, a smile in her voice. "If you are serious, I'll see what I can do. Just an innocent outing would be permitable, but no promises, okay?"

Quawe nodded and looked relieved. Even under fire, the quarian did not feel so frightened for her life as she did under the watching eyes of Tali'Zorah.

**...**

* * *

**...**

**Citadel Station 2178 CE**

"_Hello, I am Dalia Vaer and you're watching Citadel Broadcasting Network." The asari introduced herself with a smile that quickly went serious._

"_Back to our top story today. In a surprise and devastating attack, The System Alliance has broken the back of batarian piracy in the Skyllian Verge, after a decade and a half of pitched combat between the alliance military and batarian state sponsored terrorism."_

"_Many amongst the council races have criticized the human response to the attack on Elysium as 'too soft' have been silenced after the siege on the stronghold moon, Torfan begun three weeks ago. This has been the first human planetary offensive in their history as a citadel species. The first major retaliation attack since First Contact with the turians, which occurred in 2157. Alliance officials report four hundred and fifty seven dead nine hundred and three wounded. Batarian loss has skyrocketed from two thousand to our last report to eight and a half thousand. The reports of further death are still making themselves known."_

"_We're here with General Septimus Oraka, turian military liaison to the Citadel Council." The newscaster introduced as the camera panned out, bringing a turian, dressed in his ceremonial armor in view. _

_General Oraka nodded his head, ushering the asari to speak._

"_General, Some have claimed this attack to have set System Alliance diplomacy in the Verge back to just after the attack on Mindoir. Some are claiming war crimes ought to be considered for commanders on the ground. for some of the actions of the forces on the ground. Amnesty Intergalactic is making calm that well over twelve thousand civilians are among the dead. Uncounted by Alliance military census. "_

_"That may be the case, but the humans have a saying: 'Hindsight is 20/20' ." Septimus returned, leaning forward into his seat. "Meaning, it is easy for those to judge the actions displayed during the siege after it has happened. The Alliance cannot depend solely on the inaction as it had shown after the assault on Mindoir. This attack is a flat out call to the batarian government. "If you continue to send your proxy troops to fight, you can expect destruction to be the reply."_

_Septimus sipped his refreshment as Dalia recollected herself._

_"What do you suppose is next?" The news broadcaster inquired from the General. "Notable high ranking Alliance officers in all branches have been seen courting the Citadel Council. Do you believe they are seeking council blessing to engage in a prolonged offensive into the Terminus Systems?"_

_"Well I only know how to wage a war by turian doctrine. My impression of a turian/batarian engagement would be it long and ugly." The General returned, his talons tightening together. _

"_I am only an amateur in the field, but human history is marred in a series of horrific major wars after wars, each more terrifying then the next. What they could do is uncertain in my eyes, but I have only one conclusion that will be drawn from all options they take. It will be quick and devastating."_

_"The humans, There is only one thing I can be certain of with humans." He admitted, leaning back into his seat. "In my experiences, They're as tricky as the salarian STG and have no fear in engaging in conflict with with anyone who stands in their way, including their own species. But in this instance, We cannot fault this sort of thought for more definite retaliation. They watched in horror as an estimated seventeen thousand of them were shipped away into slavery since the beginning of the Verge Wars. As an officer in the turian army, I can understand their thirst to do something, anything to avenge what has happened."_

_"There are rumors that the Spectres have begun petitioning the Council to allow humans to joining their organization." Dalia inquired curiously. "Are they truly ready to join such an prestigious organization yet? Whispers of humans involved in the Torfan conflict have caught their eyes. One such incident involved frontal assault on a batarian bunker, resulting in the death of four hundred pirates."_

_Septimus merely chuckled._

"_Heh, well, I'm just a desk worker now, If you manage to get an interview with Spectre, you should ask them."_

_..._

His bones were shaking as he stepped off the transport ad out of earshot of the news report, his face pained and pale as he limped away and stooped to collect his unsteadiness

He was suppose to be at home, on bed rest ordered by his wife and doctors. He had spent three weeks of binging on cocaine, vodka and a variety of barbiturates after he had learned of what John had done. It was only a three days ago that Hannah had found him, A gun shoved down his throat and heroin flowing freely through his veins.

Suicide attempt they called it. He called it correcting a mistake. Life was not his to live now. He had waited too long. Much, much too long. His son had officially become the thing that he hated the most.

Him.

Well... Not for long, if he had anything to say about it. His delay may have tainted his son, but he was not beyond saving. Not yet.

He ignored the watchful stares of asari children and their mothers s he limped on by them. A gibbled, idiot human on an alien station far from home. Far from being welcomed. They were laughing not publicly. But dammit they were. He was a joke. A sorry excuse of a life. Just another freak the war machine with a nice public face produced.

Crew cuts, hard eyes, uniforms. More Alliance cocksuckers past him by as he entered the elevator to the presidium. Each of the clinging tightly onto asari and human whores and glaring at the well dressed but haggard looking Eric like he was just another fuck with too much time and money on his hands. Poor dumb fucks, they didn't realize the man he was now was the mirror image of them only a decade prior.

"Wait! hold the elevator!"

Eric looked up and noticed three aliens running towards the elevator as the doors shut.

Bemused, Eric raised his cane and pushed it over the elevators motion detector, forcing the elevator door to open fully once more. The group stepped into the elevators, donned in full bodysuits and helmets of red, green and tan. Their hands and feet clawed looking and legs springy.

Eric widened his eyes.

_Quarians. _

Well... This was a first. Perhaps. This was the first long stretch of sobriety he had from his release from prison, before that. Life was a haze from the moment he got out of the hospital right up to his jail time. Regardless, it was not often he encountered this species. They were always in their late teen, early adults years. Never older, never younger. What were they? Space Amish on their Space Rumspringa?

Jesus, he needed a line of coke and a drink. He was putting too much thought into this.

"Thanks." The voice, hidden by a mask spoke with a smile. Soft, Feminine, and Arabic toned, much to his surprise. Eric grunted and nodded, turning away from the three chattering envirosuit filled quarians. All if which were female.

His eyes gazed downwards and caught a glimpse of asses ad hips, molded by the God, Goddess, Devil, Superdevil him/herself. He wasn't a dirty old man. He did not fancy himself like that. But hes a definite connoisseur of the female form. It often got him in trouble from Hannah, naturally.

_Hannah... Oh for Christ's sake._

He quietly fell back into his thoughts. Preoccupied far from his son and more onto his wife. She would kill him if she knew what he was about to do. Though. Traveling fifty thousand light years solo, without any warning to her would have also been construed as a Hannah Shepard imposed, death sentence as well.

"- I can't believe the Admiral's did not tell us that. Not even your mother mentioned it." He overheard one of them mumble to the others. "They would make us sleep in the turian shelters when a proper facility has been set up by people who care? Idiots."

Living in turian shelters? What kind of idiot would send their children down to the slums, where their children could get raped and killed by the lunatics down there. Especially when there were better places to stay. Idiots. Fucking stubborn genius' the lot of them.

_"Typical."_ Shepard caught himself grumbling. He did not notice his words caused two of the quarians to tighten up. The third, the one wearing a tan brown suit turned to face the human.

"Pardon?" She spoke up, surprising him slightly. He looked away from her stare and shrugged.

"Human or...quarian, military or civilian. Command is always deaf, dumb, stubborn and ignorant." Eric explained, a haunted smile slipping across his lips. "I could deal with the first two. It's the last two traits that put me in this state."

He gestured to himself and laughed. He knew he was being a freak. The two silent quarians gave him the accurate assessment. The third, however, chuckled. Out of pity or genuine amusement, He could not tell them apart.

"Arah'Raan nar Tonbay."

"Eric." He returned her introduction with a wolfishly gaunt grin. He eyed the two quarians minding their business, adding. "Sorry if I'm freaking your friends out. I'm not contagious or anything."

Arah followed the humans gaze and narrowed her eyes at the rude quarians staring at their interaction. She huffed and turned away, crossing her arms, clearly annoyed by their behavior.

"Do not mind them, Eric. they're tactless about other races." Arah returned she explained away. "They would rather gossip about those back on the fleet and complain about how hard it is finding a job."

Finding a job? Yes, he supposed that would be a hard thing to do when surrounded by so many aliens who found you to be nothing other then leeches. it was rather pathetic how shittily treated a race was for a mistake made by an ancestor over 300 years ago.

"Do any of you have any talents?" He spoke up again, his voice casual.

"Anything really." Arah'Raan chirped brightly. "Just give us a day or two and we'll be able to anything any other species can do."

Eric could not help himself, He laughed shortly at the positive display shown by the younger quarian.

"Well now, miss. That's quite the claim, but can you back it?" Eric challenged Arah, crossing his arms.

Arah mimicked the human, crossing her arms as well.

"Is that a job offer?"

Eric shrugged and noticed that the two other quarians quieted down, their gossip put aside as they listened intently to the exchange between their friend and the older human. They seemed like kind enough people, in need of someone to give them a break. Well, he would give that break to these quarians. They deserved it. even if he only found one of them to be nice.

"Well, I'm an architect, but I'm between projects at the moment." He quickly elaborated. "I can always use a couple extra hands when I get my next contract settled. Pay will be like how I pay my human employees. Give me your contact numbers and I'll ring you up the next project I get."

Arah simply stared. Eric rolled his eyes. Damn aliens, couldn't they speak English?

"Expression." He explained. "I'll contact you, Hell, I'll pay for all travel arrangements you need to make."

Arah'Raan shook her head.

"I'm stunned by the offer you are making to us, not by your words..." Arah returned, glancing to her other friends, who were bouncing on their toes. "I thank you for this opportunity. It is rare for quarians to get one such as that."

Eric merely chuckled as the elevator came to stop, his stop. Quietly Arah's omni-tool flashed to life as it transferred contact information to the human.

"I wouldn't thank me quite so quickly." Eric warned jokingly as he read the omni-tool contact info. "I'm going to be working the three of you hard the moment the workday begins. Just a forewarning. I'll see you three sometime real soon."

As he stepped out of the elevator, he smiled slightly. Though his life was falling apart, between his his health, his addictions, his grudge, his son, his marriage falling into a decline. hearing the sudden and wild cheering on the other side of the elevator doors, gave him a small bright spot in a bleak time.

**...**

* * *

**...**

"Ahhhh. Earth-Clan, I am so pleased to have you in my shop." The volus spoke, standing from his seat to greet the human with an extended hand. "How may Barla Von help you?"

Eric looked downwards at it and took it, giving it a single, curt shake before he let go. Slowly, he sighed and rubbed his eyes. Barla Von noticed the man's tired and sick looking demeanor. He shifted his stance and pressed his hand into the back of Eric's spine, leading him to a seat in front of his desk.

Ash had pointed him here. Her fling, the asari Aashritha was dating had used his services before. He was an agent of the Shadow Broker. Just the man he needed to see.

"I understand you have made quite a name for yourself in human space." The volus continued, enthusiasm sprouting from his vocal synthesizers. "You certainly must be planning to make the move into Citadel Space. I would be most honored to work as a financial adviser to you. You are independent from a major firm, am I correct?"

Eric nodded.

"Yes, I am, and yes, I suppose I will be moving into Citadel space with my work, should the demand come." Eric admitted casually a fake smile for the suited alien. He looked around, feigning curiosity he did not have. He needed to keep what was planned as quiet as he could.

"I was told about your... other services." Was his delicate continuation, at long last turning to face the volus, who was still staring up at him scrutiniously. The two stood there, simply staring at each other.

"I see." Barla Von relented. "Please, take a seat, sir. May I get you a refreshment? Water, a carbonated beverage?"

Eric sat as order, his back leaning into the back of the comfortable chair provided to him by the information broker.

"Scotch, two fingers, on ice." Eric flat out ordered. "So long week long sobriety."

Barla Von turned away and stepped slowly to a liquor cabinet hidden behind his desk.

"You are not the first to order this, nor breaking your oath to clean up." The volus hissed, his vocal modulator sounding almost amused by Eric's observation. "When someone is in need of my services, A drink is the least I can provide them. They usually find a need for it."

Eric nodded as the volus returned with his glass and tilted the drink back almost immediately, taking in a mouthful of amber courage. he set his glass down and found the volus staring at him.

"Your feud with your former superior officer, it his now spilled into your family. It has robbed your son of any chance of normalcy. Something you have sought for him. For the record, the eyes of the Shadow Broker has deemed John Shepard, someone to keep a choose contact with now." Barla Von admitted to the father.

If he was honest, Eric wasn't quite sure how pissed of he ought to be at the news.

"Regardless of the Broker's interest. You have another reason to be here." Barla continued before the human could retort. "Perhaps the in the one who has benefited from his student's recent actions."

Eric chuckled, a dark and humorless laugh. Oh yes... when there was talk of his son becoming a human Spectre. Then Metzger would definitely benefit.

"You know Mister Von. Before I came here, I thought about knocking on his front door and pumping two rounds into his head when he answered, right in front of his wife and children." The tired, sick man answered honestly.

If he was capable to see past the mask, he was certain that the little volus had blinked at his bluntness.

"I presume further jail time is not what you seek." Barla Von finally breathed out, his toe almost amused by the rage in the humans voice. Eric snorted and sucked back his drink.

"No... What I really need is some sort of blackmail." He muttered, looking nervous as he watched the volus stare at him. There was something about Barla Von that brought up a tinge of fear.

"Please, relax, Mister Shepard, help yourself to another drink." Barla suggested to Eric at long last, sliding the bottle of scotch on his table in arms reach. Adding, "I will make an inquest into your request. This will take but a moment."

But, Before the volus could focus on his terminal, Eric clammy, shaking hand reached and grabbed his stubby arm.

"No. Barla, listen."

The Information Broker looked up, he was willing to hear the man's words.

"I-I can't use blackmail on him, per say." Eric explained, letting of of Barla. "I ... I know quite a few of his skeletons as is. What he actually did on Shanxi right up until Mindoir. I could easily come forward and tell what he did. The thing is if I do that, I could damage the reputation of the men who served under him, under me."

Eric shook his head as he gulped the last of his drink.

"I can't do that." He whispered quietly. "I could never do that."

He set the glass down and watched as Barla Von, ever the good host, filled Eric's glass back up. Quietly, he tugged a cigarette out from his jacket pocket and lit it, taking a unsteady inhale. Slowly, he exhaled and looked back up into Barla Von's inquiring posture. Slowly, his lips formed a skull-like smile.

"What I need is names of his enemies, in both the political and military circles." Eric explained. "I need doctored information. Private accounts that skimmed credits out of the military, Find a link to him and those bastards in Cerberus. Whatever seems feasible but nothing active service oriented, nothing that can be traced back and cause disgrace to the dead."

"He doesn't have to believe it. But his enemies do." Eric concluded, his hands lacing together. "It had to be quite feasible that he'll do jailtime and lose his rank should I hand the information over to the right people."

Barla Von shot Eric a warning look.

"This is not a simple request you are making, This will neither be cheap as well, Earth-Clan."

"Do I look like I give a fuck about the price?" Eric snapped surprising the volus with the sudden display of fury. "This isn't for shits and giggles or because he left me and my men to die in muddy shithole, Or that he manipulated me into beheading a fucking turian and tried to mold me into his image. I'm saving my boy, he's already begun walking the path. Torfan was just the first step."

Shaking his head like a mad man, deranged. Eric reached into his pocket his hands shaking as they removed a pack of cigarettes.

"I need to stop the madness... before any more damage can be done to him." he whispered as he lit up and inhaled slowly.

Barla simply stared at the human for a moment, it did not take long however for the volus to turn his attention back to his terminal, softly tapping away as he left the broken father commiserating over the events that led him to this office, to him giving into the underworld.

"A link to Cerberus will not work, He applied several times to partner with the organization. However, the head of the organization personally rejected his applications." Barla rasped up, looking up from his terminal. "This Illusive Man found his actions to be.. inhumane... heh... and that is saying something..."

Eric frowned slightly at the volus as he sipped his drink quietly.

"Do I need to empty my pockets now for that tidbit?" He pointedly inquired, his lips smirking.

"No, no. Consider this information a gift." Barla Von waved off, his voice different. oddly much more formal. "It's not often I have a client with reasons so admirable. A father's duty to protect his child. A promise kept, a promise never forgotten."

Eric did not speak, but he was glad to see that the volus though answering to the Shadow Broker, could at least understand why he would ever approach the organization for such a desperate need.

"Come back in two weeks." Barla Von continued on, closing his terminal and standing from his resting pace. "Your file will be ready by then. Have your payment of two hundred thousand credits ready as well."

The human gave a low whistle. Sure... he didn't give a shit about the money, that didn't mean he was made of it.

"I don't exactly have that sort of credits on hand." He admitted bashfully. "I can maybe get you a quarter of that right now. Though I don't reckon your boss takes payment plans."

Barla Von chuckled slightly, but did not seemed fazed by Shepard's lack of credits.

"No... the Broker does not, however, I will cover the cost of your request." Barla Von offered to the human in front of him. "I have many friends in need of a skilled architect, such as yourself. Rich friends and living in citadel space. I shall throw together a gala in honor of your many works. You will have many new clients and more then enough to pay me back."

Barla Von sat back down and leaned into his seat, simply watching Eric as he processed the offer. Eric didn't like this. Not one bit. Working with a Shadow Broker agent, even if it was under the guise of being a financial adviser.

"This will be most beneficial to you and I, a partnership such as this." Barla added, as though his words could help swing the thinking Shepard. "We shall save your son and line our pockets at the same time."

Eric looked up, meeting the eyes of Barla Von. He reached out, his hand offered to the volus in front of him, who shook on it firmly. Eric did not like, being indebted to someone, especially not to the likes of Barla Von. But this wasn't about him. No... He knew the risks the moment he started drawing up the plans.

His boy needed this.

**...**

* * *

**...**

_Why in the hell didn't he go out with his father in the first place?_

He had sent Garrus and Legion, Kal and his marines. But why not him? Was he that selfish? While his father laid bleeding to death, surrounded by blink bastards, he was too busy having sex with both Tali and Ereba. He could have said no and went out like his brain told him he should.

He sent Tali back home last night. It was probably for the best. At home was a curious asari who needed answers. Answers that John just could not provide as well as Tali. Besides. he needed to stay here, at his father's side. It would have been exactly what he would have done had he been in John's shoes.

His father was like that, he would have never let his father go out into the unknown. He was a better man then him.

"Sir? You have a visitor." a soft male voice spoke from behind him. John didn't turn

"Invite them in." He mumbled distractedly, not paying attention to the affirmation and the footsteps stepping out of the room.

Nor the soft feminine footsteps entering.

"Hello John Shepard.."

The voice, rich, dark and cold with the barest hint of that quarian wobble caused the man to shudder and turn to the source. He turned, and widened his bruised eyes.

"_Marhna?"_ He squinted, taking aback.

Marhna'Prince _nee_ Quaera stood there in the doorway, unsuited, her hands clutching each other tightly as she stood there simply staring at the disheveled human. John wasn't one to be intimidated by anyone, but the air of her gave the impression that she was Aria T'loak in a quarian body. Aria, being the only asari that ever gave John pause and carefully considering every move he made around her.

She was different then the woman he had met briefly three years ago. Less of a traditional quarian beauty that Tali was and much, much more haunted. She was skeletal almost. Her clothing were still screaming wealth, but they were much smaller then before. She must have only been half of Tali's size now. Only skin and bones. Her eyes, lost that mothering quality they once held and were now hard and dangerous. They were just daring any dumb son of a bitch to fuck with her. Even Tali would have been taken aback.

According to what he heard third hand from his future wife. Somehow, someway. The Reaper War made her that much harder a woman. Her and David had lost just about everything and were trying to rebuild their lives still. There fresh start was here, on Rannoch. Back with the same people she exiled herself from. It must have been hard for her to return after believing that Rannoch's return was a dead ideal.

Marhna slinked inside the observation room, her shoulder brushing past John's shoulder as she stepped towards the glass window overlooking John's father. Her eyes narrowed at the unconscious man.

"When I heard what happened as soon as I arrived on Rannoch, I came here. David was too busy to come. Such a shame that this has happened to him." She breathed as she shifted her eyes briefly back to John. "How are you and Tali handling this? I imagine you're not taking this as well as you want everyone to think."

Marhna was wrong, probably for the first time. He was not trying to hide his feelings. He was angry, angry and upset and scared. He hated this waiting more the anything else. Regardless, he chose against speaking against her judgment.

"I loved him, you know?" John spoke up, surprising the quarian. "I don't think he ever realized that. Not lately at least."

He snorted, shaking his head.

"Him and I... we were too different people."

He heard Marhna step closer to him, her shoulders touching against the Spectre's as they stood watching over his father.

"I idolized him as well. I mean, what kid raised in the military wouldn't?" He asked Marhna incredulously. "Look what he did. He fought the turians in the First Contact War and was one of the last human combatants fighting on the colony. He kept the peace in the Verge, he fought batarian state sponsored terrorism whenever it showed up on the outskirts of our colonies. I joined the marines to be just like him."

"Then he got hurt... then he broke down." He spoke into the glass window. "He stopped being the man I idolized and became this... bitter shell. Not the same man who married my mother, that's for sure."

He huffed at the thought.

"I don't get why he did it, or why I shunned him so easily when he clearly needed me the most. But... I wasn't there." He admitted, clearly shamed. "I... hate that I hated him, because it just seemed so... petty now."

"Then... I fell into the wrong hands for a while." He pressed on, unable to to look at the windows reflection of him. "I was told how incompetent he was, how he got all his men killed, how much a better soldier I could be if I stopped paying attention to my conscience. You know what? I bought the lie easily."

John looked disgusted by himself.

"He wasn't incompetent, though. He was the only man to ever spit in the eyes of Jürgen Metzger!" he almost hissed. "He was the only man I know who ever saw what was behind his charm and saw what he was. He was trying to protect me from a monster I didn't know existed."

John rubbed the bridge of his nose, his teeth biting his lower lip.

"He's a much better man then I'll ever be." He finished distantly.

He turned away and continued glancing at his father's still motionless body. Leaving Marhna by herself, stewing in what she had just learned.

"Will you tell him that?" The quarian whispered to him softly, her head tilted. John turned back to Marhna, inspecting her closely. He shook his head.

"Never." He returned simply. "I don't have the guts for that."

He turned away, swaying slightly as he tried to refocus on his father. Marnha on the other hand, was not going to have any of this. She reached out and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him back to face the drastically different quarian woman.

"When was the last time you slept, Spectre? A day? Two?" Marhna inquired, her brow raised at him.

John thought about it for maybe a moment before he shrugged mildly. Rolling her eyes, Marhna stepped last him and plopped down on the couch in the cornet. Shepard did not move; something that annoyed the older quarian who furiously patted her lap. Yet again, Shepard simply stared, he wasn't quite sure what to make of the gesture.

Marhna'Prince huffed furiously.

"It's not often I offer myself as a pillow to another man, other then my husband, John Shepard." She snapped at him, breaking his stare. "Do yourself a favor and lay down now. Before Tali comes back and finds you in this state and comes after me for letting you be like this."

John gave the woman a pointed look but decided to listen. He trudged over to the ouch and flopped on it unceremoniously. He dragged his body up and found his head now resting in Marhna's lap. Bony, but padded with her outfit. He rested his head as order and attempted to get the events past few days out of his mind. Something that was impossible to do.

Before he knew it, soft quarian hands slid up and down his spin in a slow, hypnotizing motions. They soothed the aches and pains, they made him obvious that this was not Tali doing it but another woman altogether. But it was different then Tali's or Ereba's touches. It wasn't the emotions of romance. It was something a mother did to relax her child.

Whatever it was, it worked. quarians, he imagined, would have made great massage therapists.

"I used to do this with my youngest, Laura." Marhna spoke emotionless, interrupting John's silence as her hands pushed upwards and against his highest vertebrates. "Anything that troubled her went away quickly, whether a nightmare or a bad day at school. She loved it, John."

_Used to? Loved it? _

_No..._

"She's gone now. The Reapers took her from us." She whispered as her fingers rolled balls into the back of His neck. "She was David's blood you know?" She added, almost a smile in her voice. "I convinced him to get a surrogate and eight months, twenty seven days later, there she was. Six pounds eight ounces. The biggest blue eyes you would ever see."

"She was David's flesh, She was my joy." Her voice sounding so dazed at the thought of her and David's greatest creation.

John closed his eyes as the loss suffered by Marhna and the rest of her family only served to make him that much more pained. Yet another life he couldn't have saved during the invasion. Though it hurt at the mere thought, he could not imagine what it felt for the quarian still distracting herself by rubbing his neck. The gentle touch somehow making him sleepy.

"Marhna-" He breathed out, only to have his mouth covered by Marhna's free hand.

"_Don't talk, John... _Just... Listen_."_ she asked of the Spectre. John nodded, obliging the tearless, but clearly grieving mother.

"I was the one who killed her..." She whispered to him, her mouth curled as she looked so devastated and disgusted by the facts. "Her eyes... they were as black as the night... that fucking indoctrination... I couldn't let David do it, but he wanted to so bad. So I waited until Carthia , the turian and Alexandra took him away and... and then.. then I killed her."

Marhna fell silent, her mouth unhinged and open as her eyes darted around the room, her breathing as ragged as a volus. John shut his eyes, horrified at what the war made this mother do.

"Don't say you're too gutless to tell your father you love him, that you love your mother." Marhna spoke up, finding her voice again. "They both need to hear it. They both really do, just as they want to tell you they love you so much. I wish... I wish I could have told her that I did.. but I couldn't. She just could not understand... no matter how loud or long I cried it to her."

Marhna shook her head and sniffed. Her hand pulling back from John's neck as it reached onto her dress, pulling out a cigarette and her lighter. John ignored the smoke as the cigarette was lit and inhaled in a vain attempt to cam her fragile state. To keep the normally cold and aloof woman from falling completely apart in his company.

"I can't cry anymore, John. I ran out of tears a long time ago." The mother admitted as she swept her hair braids back. Her fingers slid down and wiped her tired eyes as well.

John rolled over slightly and looked up into the eyes of the older woman. Though she made claim she had no tears, her eyes were still full of mist threatening to fall at the thought of her baby -No more then six years old taking away by the monsters that stole billions of lives.

As Marhna seemed to have relaxed into the couch, John rolled back over and closed his eyes as well. He only wished was that he had been a lot faster destroying the Reapers. If only for Tali's friend's sake.

**...**

* * *

**...**

**Outskirts of Bremen, Germany, 2178 CE**

He could not believe he was in the wolf's lair. He could believe that he had already knocked on the bloody door.

But here he was, ready to initiate a plan three years in the making.

The door opened abruptly, surprising Eric for a moment, but he quickly steeled himself. Eric was ready to face down the son of a bitch who had corrupted his son almost beyond recognition. What he was not prepared for was a small five year old girl, looking up at him shyly.

"Hi." she simply spoke, her words as timid as her expression.

Eric's rage, built up for years drained away in a matter of moments. What in the fuck was he doing? Slowly, uncertainly, Eric returned the smile to the young child still gazing up at him curiously.

"Well... hello, little miss." Eric returned, politely, speaking bright enough to earn a smile from the child. Is Jürgen, your father in?"

The child laughed brightly as though Eric had said the funniest thing ever.

"No silly... That's my Grampa." The small girl corrected the older man. Eric blinked at the new title for the monster who ordered a butcher against a village so many years ago.

Metzger was a grandfather...

A taller woman pushed past the child gently, shooing the little girl away. Making sure that the child was gone, she turned back to Eric with the most charming of smiles for him. She was almost a splitting image of the man he was after tonight. High cheekbones a tall frame. She was rather pretty.

"Hello, I'm sorry about her, she's in her curious stage." She apologized profusely. "Can I help you?"

"Is the General home?" He inquired again. The woman nodded.

"Yes he is, and you are?"

_He was the man here to ruin her father._

"One of the boys from Shanxi." Eric introduced himself to the young mother with the mildest of grins he could produce for the offspring of the demon incarnate. "My name is Eric."

The young woman smiled and offered her hand which Eric accepted.

"Margaret Metzger. You were under my father's command during the Shanxi occupation?" The woman named Margret spoke brightly. _"The brave few who would defy the traitor General Williams."_ She added, perfectly imitating her father's tone.

Eric laughed and nodded.

"Yeah... that was us alright. Though we were nothing more then piss and vinegar compared to the turians really, we got lucky most of the time." He admitted to the girl, who giggled and slapped his chest playfully.

A Shanxi holdout whose humble about his service?" Her voice shocked by the prospect. "This is a first. Perhaps you could teach my father some humility."

"Oh... I've tried, don't you worry about that." He admitted as him followed the woman down the long winding corridor. "I figure one last attempt is in order. Then I'll give up the struggle."

"Oh you're funny as well! Daddies friends usually lack that trait." She returned, her pearly whites showing.

Eric bowed his head down to hide the slight blush. Perhaps he could also screw Metzger's daughter... would have made a fine dessert for what he was planning to do.

As Eric and Margaret wandered casually through the house, Eric looked around at the home. It was a home clearly decorated by Metzger. Everything gave the impression of wealth and intelligence. From the study they passed by, to the entertainment room that lacked any technology. Jut wood books and a piano. He wanted to scream how much better he was then most other people.

Eric added decadence to the big list of personality traits of Jürgen Metzger.

They pushed through a heavy oak door and ended up in the kitchen. There he stood, hunched over a cutting board and a large pot simmering carefully on an element. Margaret gave Eric the smallest of smiles and stepped past him., standing next to her father's side. She leaned in, her lips kissing against her father's cheek to get his attention, which quickly worked.

"Father, you have a visitor." She spoke, gesturing back to Eric. Jürgen turned back to follow his girl's led. A flash of surprise, mix with a hint of disgust spread quickly across his features.

"Ah... Eric. What brings you far from your home to mine?" He greeted his unexpected guest enthusiastically.

Eric's face contorted in to a smile that was not dissimilar to that of a Great White Shark's. With a polite nod to Jürgen's daughter s she passed by, Eric limped over, his hand outstretched. Jürgen Metzger took the hand and gave it a charismatic shake. He had not changed since the last time he had seen him, shortly before his prison sentence.

Still the same arrogance. It really should not have surprised him in the slightest. Both of them heard the door behind them close. Almost immediately ending any civility they had.

"Thought I'd check up on you." Eric grinned slightly, letting go of Metzger's hand and wiping it off on his pant leg."You didn't file a restraining order after the ass kicking I gave you, so I figured..."

Metzger raised his eyebrow at the former Commander.

"Yes. Only women and those who have fear of their attackers file restraining orders." Jürgen brushed off, wandering away from the stove. "Me? I lack the ability to be frightened by those underneath me. A drink, perhaps Shepard?"

He gestured to the bottle of red wine on the kitchen table. He paused, sighed and turned back, looking apologetic for a misstep he figured he had made.

"I forgot... Your son informed me you were attempting to become sober." He reminded Eric, his voice almost leering. "My apologies, Eric."

Metzger rejoined Eric by the stove, pulling what looked like a bok choy plant from out of a plastic bag. Noticing Eric standing there, simply staring at him, he slid the rather large kitchen knife next to him over to the man once tried to kill him.

Did he seriously have that big a death wish?

"Here, cut the carrots up, julienne cut them please." Metzger requested, turning back to the bok choy he was grating. He paused, and with the most condescending of voices, added. "You know, little strips? Like French fries you grunts eat."

Eric glanced at the knife in his hand. How easy it would have been to just do him in right here, right now. Instead he listened to the General and begun running the knife over the carrots. He was however, ignoring the julienne request. Instead he was cutting the bundle of carrots up with little or no concern. It was just a way to annoy the son of a bitch further.

If it did, he didn't show it.

"Awfully trusting of you, giving me this knife." Eric whistled lowly, interrupting Metzger. "What makes you think I wouldn't do your family a favor and cut your fucking head off?"

Jürgen didn't flinch at the words so harshly spoken. He continued to add the various ingredients into the soup.

"That would imply I have a need to fear you." The General pointed out, smirking as he shot his former subordinate a carefully inspecting look. "I do not see any reasons to fear in front of me. Just a tired old addict with a request to make from me. So please, go on. I don't want the walking dead in my home any longer then you need to be."

Eric ignored the jibe, no matter how much he wanted to make the bastard swallow his own teeth. Again.

"I'm going to ask you once and once only." Eric said. His voice as polite as he could force it to be. "Cut my son loose. Transfer him to another commander. Preferably someone who wasn't a complete fucking psychopath."

All Jürgen Metzger could do at first was smile that cold smile of his.

"What if I say no?" The officer pointed out. "That your son is now on first name basis with me. He's a delightful young man. Articulate, well mannered. A much better soldier then you could have ever been. My youngest, Freyja has taken a rather keen interest in him. A union I can find no reason not to exist."

"You would want to risk to further alienate you and your son? For what? What happened on Torfan?" Metzger asked, smiling at how absurd it seemed to him.

Eric, trying his best to suppress the idea of being an in-law to a Metzger, casually shrugged.

"If it means keeping him away from you." Eric said. "Then yes. I'd rather my son hating me a bit more then hating what he becomes."

Jürgen laughed slightly.

"I suppose you're going to have to find a less pleasant way to tell me to hand him over then." He informed the father, pointing the wooding ladle at Shepard almost playfully.

Well... if really wanted Eric to up the ante. Fine by him.

"Funny thing. I already did that."

Eric raised his omni-tool and transferred a data file over to Metzger's. He didn't speak at first. Instead he let the General scroll through the information he had handed him, his eyes widening for a single brief moment, before narrowing.

"Have you ever heard of the First Line Fund?" Eric inquired as he dumped his batch of butchered carrot slices onto the soup. "It's a series of slush fund accounts set up to assist the Corsairs out in the Terminus? Nine accounts, forty million credits each. All of them scattered across the divide between council space and terminus territory. These account gets dried up and is refilled every year."

Metzger turned back to Eric. All Eric could do in return was smile.

"The thing is," He continued, wandered away from the kitchen counter. "Someone has been funneling credits out of the accounts at about ten grand every day. Not a lot of credits at first glance, but that is ten thousand out of each of the accounts. all of which is ending up in an Noveria bank account... one of those grey accounts. they don't ask questions."

Eric took a seat at the kitchen table. He eyed the bottle of red wine and grabbed it, poring himself a drink. He sipped from the glass, allowing Metzger some time to stew in what was happening. There hadn't been any money stolen from the Alliance coffers. Not yet at least. At any moment the words he was speaking could become a reality.

As he finished his wine he set the glass down and pulled himself back up. Yet again he reapproached the silent General.

"The account, oddly enough is under your wife's, mother's maiden name." He spoke with a sympathetic wince. "Opened two days ago. One hundred and eighty thousand credits balance so far... though... somehow I doubt either your mother-in-law, nor your wife did it..."

Metzger's teeth were grinding. He could almost hear them.

"So... that's six hundred and thirty thousand a week... two and half million credits a month. I doubt you will get too greedy."He pointed out as though having the illusion of concern. "Perhaps this will only last for the month. I imagine your living expenses are rather high."

He gestured to the fine home he stood in and slowly laughed shaking his head.

"I know what this is, Eric." Metzger managed to get out, his arms crossed as he glared at the former soldier. "You've almost impressed me. Too bad most would take my word over yours."

"I don't deny what I'm doing to you. But taking your word as the truth is going to be impossible." Eric casually admitted. "A last tidbit if you don't mind it. I think you would want to hear this."

Metzger didn't take the knife off the counter and cut open Eric's throat. It was obvious that he would hear what Eric had to say.

"The First Line Fund? It doesn't really fund the Corsairs." Eric elaborated, still smirking slightly. "I was bullshitting you, I'm real sorry, sir."

Eric reached out, patting the General on his shoulder playfully, his mouth allowing a slight laugh to escape.

"Funding the Corsairs was just a cover story, Jürgen old boy... It actually funds the Cerberus organization." He corrected himself as he watched Metzger's anger turn into shock.."According to the Shadow Broker, They're already searching for the leak. I don''t imagine them to be a very forgiving group should they find that you've be fucking them over..."

Metzger's arrogant defiance slipped away. His color as well, leaving him pale ad doing a double take. The trap was sprung, the mere inference that Metzger was defrauding a quasi government funded terrorist group had destroyed all of his confidence.

"Considering all those rejection letters from a man whose pinkie finger alone intellectually dwarfs you, I imagine he'll draw the conclusions long before I hand all this evidence over to Thomas Garner in Alliance Internal Affairs." Shepard taunted the borderline sociopath."Remember him? Wasn't he the one poking his nose into the Shanxi highway of turian's incident? Or... did he call it Vlad Tepes Monument of Shanxi? Well... Compared to the Illusive Man's wraith, I bet fifteen to life and a dishonorable discharge would be a breeze."

Jürgen was nearly purple, rage and embarrassment didn't mix well. Eric's heart was pounding in his chest. He couldn't believe this was working. He could kiss that genius Barla Von if he was here right now. Clever son of a bitch put all the pieces together and created the perfect weapon to deflate an egomaniac.

"So... I imagine you're ready to reconsider my request?" Eric concluded, his lips quirking into a slight smile as Metzger shook, glowering in boiling rage.

As quick as the rage came. It disappeared, Jürgen, turning his anger into his unique charm. Slowly, he gave the man a sly smile and slicked back his hair. He appeared almost amused at the predicament he was now in.

"Congratulations, Eric." He drawled out with widest of smiles. "You've finally learned to push your conscious aside to get what you need at any cos-"

Eric didn't wait for the Metzger to finish his corrupted Darwin speech.. Instead, his hand rolled into a fist and slammed into Metzger's abdomen with enough strength behind it to wind the officer. Jürgen dropped to the floor, wheezing as he tried to get back up. Eric was quicker however, his hand wrapped around Metzger's hair and pulled him back up roughly.

With Metzger standing, Eric yanked his head back and grabbed the stainless steel kitchen knife off the counter. He pressed the blade against the General's neck, his mouth sneering at the suddenly frightened older man.

"Sorry fuckhead. I'm not here for your mindfucks, boyo." Shepard hissed at Metzger "You've been cornered and you're shit out of luck now. Right about now I'd be stamping your ass into a bloody stain. But I'm done killing people. Even a souless, little cockroach like you. Now let my boy go or I send a friendly anonymous tip straight to those Cerberus lunatics."

Eric let go of the hair he was holding and pushed Jürgen backwards. His good leg swung out and forced the man to trip, tumbling the bastard back to the hardwood floor. Eric turned away. His hands shaking as he still clutched the knife. He turned his rage to the carrots on the cutting board and continued slashing them up. His mind imagining just how fast that fucker would have bled out had he not grown tired of blood on his hands.

Metzger slowly stood up. Thoroughly humiliated in a few short minutes.

"I'll make a transfer request in the morning." He quietly decided. Surprisingly subdued now. "Anyone in particular?"

Eric smirked slightly and stopped chopping the vegetables ad turned back to the General.

"Steven Hackett." Eric told the bastard, setting down the kitchen knife. "He's only man I trust who can clean your bullshit from my son's mind."

Jürgen stared at Eric. He's eyes furious, they wanted to kill the ex-marine right where he stood. Eric could not blame the son of a bitch for feeling like that. Gone was his false sense of superiority. Stolen by Eric's shadow broker investment. This was... this better then anything Eric could ever imagine.

Metzger nodded at the order, his eyes still full of contempt for the father. Eric hobbled a bit closer, his bum leg now throbbing from all the strain he had put on it.

"Now I may not want to kill you right this moment, but If I ever see you around myself or my son again Metzger. You're probably not going survive like last time." He warned the General. "If you ever sniff around daughter or my wife. I'll kill you even quicker. Understand?"

With what he needed said, he silently spat on the floor between the men and Grabbed the cane resting against the kitchen island. Without waiting for any of Metzger's last words, he left. Leaving Jürgen Metzger stewing in the shit kicking he had just taken by a vengeful father.

**...**

* * *

**...**

It took all his efforts, but Eric opened his eyes, his vision blurred and darkened. Where the fuck was he now? Was he dead? Was this the hell he so rightfully deserved?

_'Doctor Dari'Forual please report to surgery. Doctor Dari'Forual, please report to surgery._

No... he wasn't in Hell. he was somewhere worse. Rannoch.

_Fuck._

He was sore, his stomach was dull and throbbing, he was groggy as hell but he was awake. He was alive. He was safe.

All those facts, however did not comfort him in the slightest

The room, obviously now a hospital was dark; Either it was night time or because all the lights were off, he was not sure. All he was certain on was that he was not alone. He could hear someone, whispering in an alien language, it sounded almost like a chant to the freshly woken up human. He glanced over, his eyes squinting and attempting to focus.

It was that Admiral, Tali was so close too. The one who greeted him at the terminal what felt like an eon ago. Shala'Raan. Her head was low, bowed almost. Intently staring at the floor as she spoke silently.

"It's a little late to be visiting, isn't it ma'am?" He spoke up sloppily.

Hearing the sudden growling of words, Shala almost bounced in her seat as she furiously blushed behind her helmet as she stood up from her seat. Alien eyes were watching her much, much closer then she was use to. Slowly, she cleared her throat.

"I am sorry. I can come back."

Eric Shepard, though groggy on a cocktail of different drugs reached over and turned on the table light. He shook his head as he slowly pushed himself up onto the pillows.

"No, ma'am. I've been out of it for way too long now. Come on... you relax, I could use the company."

Shala nodded, albeit reluctantly. She again approached his side and took a seat next to him. Her posture, despite having relaxed, seemed terse, as though she was afraid of him. He look at her, eyes pointing to where the bright pupils he could make out from behind the mask were.

"How long have I been out?" He groaned, wiping his tired eyes.

"Two days. It's late so I sent Tali and John home." Shala informed the wounded human. "They have been sick with worry for you. For you to be awake shall be such a relief."

Two days. It felt like a month to him. Shala'Raan bowed her her head, her voice modulator making strange exhale.

"This was all my fault. I am sorry, Mister Shepard." The quarian all but cried out, her voice so clearly upset with what had occurred only days ago. " I should have assisted you much better then I had."

Eric squinted at the suddenly upset admiral.

"Please, Admiral. It's just Eric... just Eric." He corrected her, pushing himself painfully up on the pillow. "How is this your fault?" He grinned through his grimace. "Did you hire them because I was checking you out? You could have just told me off. A bullet in the gut was a bit much."

The tension in the admiral slacked as she softly chuckled at his attempt t playing down the events that left him in this condition. Eric laughed too, albeit much more subdued. Shala exhaled and shook her head. Quietly she glanced up and before Eric could stop her, her pulled the faceplate from off her mask, dropping it on the side of the bed.

She was...beautiful.

Well... at least by his standards she was, to other quarians she could have been a double bagger and he would be none the wiser.

As the rest of the helmet came off she watched as several silver braids touched down against her face, the rest was the braids were still as black as Tali's when she was willing to expose herself. Shala'Raa's skin was paler then Tali's as well, an unhealthy looking chalk grey. Eric could notice as Shala shook, she was frightened she was doing this. Decades of fear of exposure was not something one got over in a few short years.

Eric reached out, his hand weakly gripping the nervous quarian, who smiled uncertainly and shook her head once again, an expression of remorse was written on her face.

"I should have sent more men with you." She spoke again, her accented voice now without the electronic hiss to it. "I should have committed gunships for aerial overwatch. Instead I send you and a squad of troops into unsecured grounds for our own selfish benefit. You sit there, in this state thanks to me."

Eric barked a laugh.

"No... I sit here in this state because of me." Eric spoke again, his eyes turning from the quarian. "Two marines killed and five wounded because of me. This was a case of my past catching up to me. Karma for destroying so many lives."

He went silent as he thought about the past about the flickering of memories he had laying in that abandoned ruins surrounded by dead and wounded quarians, about the batarian seeking his justice for a family murdered by Eric's inaction. He did not feel the alien hand grazing his.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

The brooding father looked up as he heard Shala's words. His eyes falling on the concern quarian's expression.

"Do I want to talk about it?" Eric repeated incredulously. He paused, gazing in the quarian's bright eyes never wavering once under his gaze. 'No one has asked me that sort of question in thirty one years. "

Eric rubbed the bridge of her nose... She was offering something he hadn't expected... perhaps... perhaps it would help make him better...

"You know... Once I hacked off a turian's head for another man's morale boost." Eric whispered to himself "I got a medal and a promotion for it."

Eric snorted as he watched the quarian's gaze harden as shock came over her. Shaking his head, he looked almost amused by the insanity of the mere thought of what he did.

"A medal and a promotion for beheading a prisoner of war. Heh..." Eric repeated hollowly, quirking his lips into a haunted half smile. "They called him a hostile disarmed enemy combatant. That line's been used two hundred years and it still works."

He leaned back into his pillow.

"Wife... she didn't even bat an eyelash when I ... when I tried to tell her what happened." He pressed on, his voice causal for the topic he was discussing. "She said she was proud of my service. I did what I had to do to survive the invasion. She was even prouder that I decided to stay in active service."

Shala blinked, her lips pursed.

"How could she be proud of such an act?"

He shrugged at the question. He wish he knew himself.

"Perhaps she didn't know what to say." Eric hypothesized lamely. "Perhaps because she's a navy puke who has no idea what it's like to watch another man's windpipe choke for air after it got hacked open. To watch those beady black turian eyes widen because he knows that he's a dead man; but is too stubborn to accept the fact."

Nothing but silence greeted him at first.

"I can't possibly think of a worse fate then that."

Shala's words, silently spoken, touched him. they sounded meaningful. As much as he wanted to tease the woman and call her the first thoughtful navy puke he had ever seen, Eric decided against it. Instead he simply gave her a reassuring smile, One that told her everything was going to be alright. At least for now.

They sat quietly together in a comfortable silence. A comfortable silence he had only ever experienced with his best friend, Latesh. it was a trait unable to be replicated by the rest of his family, especially not with Hannah, who got bored quickly and wandered off to do something important, Something Alliance oriented usually.

"Anyways, I said enough. Can I rain check it?" Eric spoke at last. "I just... I just don't want to think about it. Not right now. okay?"

Shala'Raan blinked at the remark. Eric mentally cursed himself for using the idiom.

"Rain check, you know, I'll tell you later if you're serious on this offer.." He explained, which Shala swiftly nodded, agreeing with him. Smiling slightly, he pushed himself further up against the back of the bed, wincing slightly.

Without any warning, Shala's arms wrapped around him as she carefully helped the injured human reposition himself.

"So, what's your story?" Eric spoke, choosing to change the subject. "Married?"

A flash of hurt spread quickly across the exposed quarian's face at the words he spoke. A look that was quickly and skillfully suppressed.

"Widowed, twenty eight years ago." Shala'Raan finally returned, looking up as though worried the human would judge her. Eric simply softened his eyes into a look of sympathy.

Eric's smile vanished immediately, quickly replacing it with a of sympathetic compassion. A widow... sometimes he should have just kept his stupid mouth shut. She did not seem to bent out of shape over it. I had been almost three decades ago. Her hearts scars must have finally healed.

"I'm sorry." Eric breathed, sitting up a little more and wincing at the pain. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Shala dropped her eyes downwards as she seemed to fall into her thoughts. it did not take long for her to look up and smile to the human melancholia.

"What is there to say?" Shala softly returned to the curious Shepard, whom she sat so close to. "We were young and in love. He was a soldier, I was training to become a pilot. He died, repelling a blood pack raid against the fleet. he was a true hero."

Eric nodded yet again, choosing not to push the subject any further then one last question.

"Did... you know, did you have time for any children?"

The sad look that Eric had expected to grow only worse vanished. Shala shook her head, her expression smiling proudly.

"One, through in vitro fertilization, shortly after his death." Shala spoke, much more brighter then before. "Arah. My precious Arah. She is married now, she has had her first child. A daughter."

Eric let out a laugh and a clap of his hands.

"So, you're a grandmother, hey?" Eric mused playfully to the woman, his face lighting up into the largest grin Shala had ever seen.. "Have you started to spoil them rotten? Completely undermines what your children are teaching them. It's a helluva lotta fun."

Shala, brow raised as she crossed her arms, glaring playfully back at the wounded but still wicked human laying next to her.

"No... I have not spoiled Falwa yet. Nor will I. Tali has shared many horror stories about you." Shala returned, choosing to tease the human. "I have to pity just what your poor daughter goes through."

Eric snorted.

"_Killjoy."_ He muttered mutinously.

Together, both human and quarian laughed together a the good natured teasing. God... He had missed this... this sort of simplicity Shala'Raan , though an Admiral, did not play the part quite like his wife Hannah was humorless unless she was smoking pot with him, Shala seemed much more at ease, despite having had led her people for a decade or so. she seemed genuinely concerned for him as well. It was like she gave a damn about him eve if she was strangers with him.

He just didn't feel like Eric Shepard, the man who murdered batarians and turians, who attempted suicide and was the shittiest father and man, anyone could possibly be. He was burdened by any of those pressures anymore in the company of this stranger, this... alien.. He felt... he felt a lot better. he felt that he could be himself.

"I know quite a lot about your son, tell me about your other child?" he heard the quarian speak to him gently, as though not wanting to disturb him.

Eric grinned rather sweetly in Shala'Raan's opinion.

"Sarah? She's my pride and joy. Just don't tell John that." Eric spoke, earning a mysterious smile from Shala. "Had a bit of a hiccup though. Some motherfucker decided he didn't want to stick around after he knocked her up. It was hard at first for her. Well, as it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Anna, my granddaughter. I love her... I dunno what I'd do without her."

Shala smiled, her thoughts drifting to her own grandchild and just how perish she was to her. Some things, it seemed, did transcend species. A grandparents love for their grandchild was another one..

"The father tried to show up a year later... First time I picked up a rifle since Mindoir. I hate fucking guns... " He admitted sheepishly. he paused, inhaled and glanced back up to Shala.

'But... push come to shove and you see your little girl get smacked over words, the principal you stand for gets thrown out pretty fast." He pressed, feeling his hand gripped by the quarian suddenly. "Son of a bitch got a firm understanding of what stainless steel and gunpowder tasted and smelled like."

Eric shook his head as Shala looked outraged at the mention of domestic abuse, something almost unheard of by quarians.

"Thank God John wasn't around then." He murmured to the woman. "He'd have pulled the trigger and not lose an ounce of sleep."

Shala squeezed the man's hand as he thought about his son.

"John was... missing then, am I correct?"

Eric glanced back, Blue eyes almost steel at the words of the admiral.

"Don't sugarcoat it, Shala'Raan. He was stone cold dead." Eric corrected the woman much much rougher then he intended. He paused to notice Shala's recoil. he opened his mouth to say he was sorry, but it was stopped by Shala's gloved hands, blocking his mouth from apologizing.

With Eric pacified, she pulled back, her hands running through her long braids.

"Tali was... Tali was devastated when she got back to the fleet." She informed the father, sighing as she thought about those dark days. "Shocked and saddened cannot even begin to describe it. The only thing that kept her going was helping her father with his research. She threw herself deeper and deeper into danger."

"Between you and I, I think she was looking to toss her life away." she added, her voice growing much more grim at the thought. "Perhaps she wanted to take the chance of meeting John in some sort of afterlife. I do not know, just speculation."

As Eric heard the tone change in Shala, Eric switched subjects quickly.

"Regardless. Its hard to find someone who loves another that much, even among your own people. Considering how far apart the two of them were. Her being quarian, Him human." He noted, running his hand through his frazzled hair idly. "John's lucky to have her, Shala. I hope he at least asked your permission first."

Shala nodded, agreeing warmly with the sentiment.

"Eventually he did. I will admit, I had my... concerns for it at first. Rael, Tali's father would have probably hated him. That would have probably changed." Shala admitted, laughing softly. "Your son is a fine partner for my Tali." She added, smiling. "I was so happy to hear that you were so receptive to her. She was rather worried how you would have reacted. She already had met your wife before. according to her, John rarely discussed you in their early days."

Eric sighed, yes.. that was what he figured had happened.

"I couldn't blame John for hiding me away. I'm not a very good person... I say things, I do things... I hit on a pretty alien woman who probably hired a batarian hit to take me out."

"You've made many bad decisions in your life, Eric Shepard. I feel that I have probably barely touched upon them." Shala spoke to him, her fingers pushing into his hand comfortingly. "But all of your choices, the path you have traveled, they have all led here, laying in this hospital bed, becoming my friend. You cannot possibly hope to erase your past, but you can make do and find little blessings in all that has went right."

"You have raised fine children, which has brought a sense of family back to my Tali. You are here, on my homeworld, helping us to restore the honor we lost so many centuries ago." She continued to list off. "You are my newest friend when I have lost so many to this damnable war and to conflicts in the past."

Eric raised an eyebrow.

"For a new friend you're awfully close." He teased her, running his hand through his hair.

Shala glared playfully.

"Well... Perhaps I am. I may have been alone for a very long time, but I know what flirting looks like when I see it. Even if you are human." The admiral observed, her moth quirking slightly. "Strange," She added. "Considering you are a married man."

"Yet here you are, tempting that same married man. Seems to me we hit a kinda stalemate." Eric shot back, grinning slightly at the quarian woman, now only mere inches away. "Seriously, what was with you checking my ass out?"

Shala did not have any reply. All she could do was simply stare at him with those big quarian eyes. there was a lump in the back of his throat .

Oh Christ, He never, ever intended on doing this, cheat on his wife.

Hannah may have given him a mulligan, it did not mean however he ever planned to use it despite his occasional temptation. He most certainly did not intend on using in on a quarian woman his age, perhaps a younger quarian, or a barely legal asari, but never someone with the power to determine the fate of 18 million men, women and children. But no matter how much his brain told him to stop, his mouth slightly open, his eyes half closed.

Besides, he rationalized She was the one initiating it.

That was when it happened. Shala had leaned in and kissed him.

But... it was wrong.

Shala'Raan actually kissed his teeth.

What in the hell was that? How old was she? Eleven? Twelve years old? Did he go back in time or something? Shala pulled back, mortified by both her lack of aim and his sudden tenseness immediately pulled herself back. She looked almost ready to flee when Eric reached out, his hand gripping her arm, asking for her to stay by his side.

"_You kissed my teeth."_ Eric pointed, as though it had been the most obvious thing in the world, his eyebrow raised high, his lips smirking.

Shala broke out into easily the darkest blush Eric had ever witnessed in his life, human or quarian. She fidgeted nervously but stayed dead still in the humans grasp.

_"Oh Keelah."_ Shala'Raan all but cried, hanging her head in shame. "I did not mean to do that... I just have not engaged in these sorts of indiscretions in many, many years. Let alone with a human. You- you must forgive me."

Eric's wide eyes lowered slightly. His lips formed a tight grin. his hand snaked upward, grazing the small of Shala's back, gently pushing the quarian a little closer to him.

"You kissed my teeth," He repeated yet again, still teasing the quarian mercilessly. "I don't normally allow a second chance... but in your case, I think I'll make an exception. That is... if you want one."

Shala tilted her head, slowly, a small shy smile slipped across her lips as she coyly nodded her head. She leaned inwards and closed her eyes, though hesitant to fear of exposure, she found herself sighing sweetly as Eric's weathered hands grazed against skin so sensitive to touch.

Again they kissed, this time in worked as the galaxy intended kissing to be. careful not to place any pressure onto the wounded man, she curved her body to contort next to him her mouth still desperately latched tight against Eric's chapped lips. Her eyes suddenly widened. She felt the tip of Eric's tongue touching against hers, a feeling that was so thrilling, she nearly lost her self control there and then.

She pulled back, breathing wildly s her bright eyes watched over Eric, whose dazed look was rather charming on him. He bit his chapped lip , his hands sliding, gripping against her wide hips, simply daring her to take another move.

''Not scared you'll get a little cough are you?' Eric teased her breathless as she slowly brought her head back, leaning her forehead against his.

"You're as clean as a human will get..." She returned, speaking her voice much more confident then he had expected. "Besides... this is well worth the illness."

Shala kissed Eric again, her long hands roaming freely, they were exploring Eric's alien strain hair. she puled back quickly. slowly both of them laughed at the absurdity of what they were doing. two people, far along in their lives. together like this acting like teenagers. well... at least he felt like that way. Shala probably didn't get out as much as he did. being trapped in a suit and lacking an immune system that could handle half a liter of someone elses spit.

He smiled slightly as he felt Shala's nose pressing against his, her hands, still grazing through his hair as though it had been a source of fascination for her.

"I am sorry if this is bothering you. it's just so odd." She whispered shyly, despite her apologies, she did not cease. All Eric could do was smile. How could he say no to her.

The one thing that seemed to trouble him the least how little guilt he had felt for what he did. Kiss another woman. He probably would have felt guilty had it been anyone other then the woman next to him now. The woman who actually seemed that she was genuinely concerned for him. A woman who thought of him as less of a burden and more of an asset.

He hadn't felt this respected for in quite some time...

With as much care as she could give. Shala pulled the little wait she had on his off, laying at Eric's side, her gloved hands lacing his. Together, Shala and Eric. A married man and a widow, silently stared at the ceiling of the hospital. Both so very different, both having the exact same thoughts.

What would happen next?

**...**

* * *

**...**

**April 12th 2154 SSV New Delhi, orbiting Earth**

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

He couldn't believe his luck. He was eight hours late. Hannah was going to be completely pissed at him. He had promised, he had sworn he would be there next to her the whole time. Instead, he got stuck in transit to the transport up to the New Delhi.

Why in the hell couldn't Hannah have just held out for at least another seven or eight hours. That way he wouldn't have to be rushing like some sort of crazed lunatic. Wimpy flygirl, she had no pain threshold whatsoever.

He cursed to himself. Being late to his child's birth. He was going to be the worst father ever.

As his thoughts focused on his son, he completely forgot watching where he was going. Before he knew it, he was sprawled on the floor on top of another navy puke who stepped into his pathway. Before Eric could curse himself and the flyboy out, he noticed squirming under him was the Captain of the New Delhi, Gregory Eisenhorn.

Oh for fuck's sake.

"What in Jesus Holy Christ was that for, marine?" Eisenhorn demanded to know, pushing the younger man of him and standing back up with a groan. Eric joined him, standing up and brushing the Captain off. Eisenhorn glared down the marine, instantly causing Eric to cease his wiping.

"I'm sorry, sir. I wasn't thinking." Was Eric's weak apology. Despite that, Eisenhorn continued to stare into Shepard's, however, his eyes broke their glare as they fell down to Eric's chest, looking for his identification tags.

"Private Shepard, am I right?" The captain questioned the young marine. As he noticed Eric nod, his frown formed into a knowing smile. His hand fell down on his shoulder, clamping him tightly.

"Well shit, son. Normally I'm not so forgiving to those who run me down and not have the common fucking courtesy to at least sincerely apologize, but I'll make an exception for today." The Captain stated, his voice gruff, but a note of humor was there. "Now get going and go on see your boy. Congratulations son, he's going to make one hell of a jarhead."

Captain Eisenhorn reached into his jacket pocket and handed Eric a nice sized cigar, He slapped the marine on his shoulders and marched away, rejoining his XO, leaving Eric holding the cigar. Though his testosterone begged him to stop and smoke his gift, he resisted and instead slipped it away, continuing his swift march down to the medical center, albeit, at a much slower pace this time.

His heart was pounding hard as he stepped into the medical center. He frowned as he looked around. Hannah was no where to be seen. Instead there was only a soft looking redheaded nurse sitting at her table and transcribing several medical reports. She looked up as she heard footsteps approach her, tilting her head curiously.

"Can I help you, Marine?" She asked, her smile bright and flirtatious. If Eric hadn't been married and now a father, he might have had done something about seeing that smile turn into a whimpering expression. Eric shook his head. Now was not the time to be thinking about that sort of thing.

"Hannah Shepard." He said instead, "I'm the husband."

The Nurse's eyes light up. She did not need words, she simply gestured Eric to follow her. Her glorious hips swaying as they led him through the medical center.

"The New Delhi has a maternity ward onboard, most ships this size do." The redhead explained to the new father with a dazzling smile. "Everything was a breeze. She's recovering right now."

She opened the maternity ward door and gestured Eric inside. The room was darkened, but through the light shining behind, he saw Hannah, laying on her side, appearing to be fast asleep. Eric nodded to the nurse and stepped forward, tiptoeing so he did not have to disturb his young wife's sleep.

He sat down on the edge of the bed, just behind her. Quietly he watched her slumbering state briefly before leaning in and pressing his lips just behind her ear. The kiss, tender and chaste, caused the new mother to groan and stir. Without an thought his hand slide down her side, finding hers.

_"Nine pounds, eleven ounces." _He heard Hannah call out to him through the darkened room, squeezing his hand as hard as she could. "Bloody little terror turned at the last moment just to piss me off." She weakly giggled. "I guess he decided he wanted to come out the stomach. I dunno if I should scold him for the scar or thank him for keeping everything down there intact."

Eric chuckled just as strained as his wife and pushed himself from the edge of the bed closer to her, carefully running his free hand through her hair. He watched as her lips quirked up into a smile. Eric laughed briskly and leaned in, pressing his cracked lips against her smooth head.

"Hey there." He finally spoke up, looking upset with himself. "I'm so sorry, I really, really tried to get here as fast as I could."

"It's alright, Eric." Hannah reassured her near panicked husband with the slightest of sleepy smiles. "As long as you're there him for the rest of your life I'll forgive for missing the birth."

Eric silently agreed to the terms.

"Named him yet?" Eric blurted out. If there was a name he needed to know it fast. His boy needed a name.

Hannah shook her head lazily.

"No... I couldn't do that yet." She sleepily replied. "I was thinking Alex... After your father... It's a very noble name. I like it."

_His father?_ That was stupidest thing Eric ever heard the fly girl say.

"_Alex?_" Eric cackled. "Jesus, calling him Adolf Josef Mao Tojo W Shepard would be better in my books then that..."

"David, Jack, Pablo?" Hannah lusted off, grinning at Eric cheekily.

"Honestly...I was thinking. John, John Shepard..." Eric spoke up again. Grinning as well, though his words were dead serious. "Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

Hannah raised an eyebrow. A look that clearly spelled 'Are you fucking kidding me?

"You contemptible little shithead. You stupid, conniving kiss ass. You and my father have a shit relationship, so you go out and name your first child, his first grandchild after him?" Hannah grinned, griping Eric's hand tightly. "You know, if the Marines don't work out, I imagine you'd make a good stoolie for him. A yes man. Bet if he asked you too, you'd suck his ball-"

"Okay okay, I'm guilty of ass kissing." Eric hastily interrupted, swiftly kissing his wife on the lips in order to silence her. "But better ass kissing my father-in-law then giving him some fancyass name. A simple, strong name is always better. Kids can't use it for name teasing."

Hannah snorted at the theory but quietly accepted his logic regardless.

"Alright then, John it is... I think father would really like that, to be honest." Hannah agreed, earning a slight cheer from her man. She paused, dropped her smile and added. "But... when I get my girl, I'm calling her Sarah. Okay?"

Sarah.

Eric did not reply.

"Sarah Shepard, like her grandmother, your mother." Hannah elaborated simply staring up at him with a look of unreadable determination. "Okay?"

Mother...

Eric hadn't thought about her in many years. Not since after her funeral when he was barely sixteen. Eric bit his lip and forced the mist in his eyes back.

Quietly he pondered that.

Would she have had taken her own life had she known she'd have had a wonderful Daughter-In-Law and a Grandson only three years later? Would she have been a grandmother type? Doting on her grandson, spoiling him rotten, letting him get away with bloody murder? Eric thought she would have.

It didn't matter. She was gone, gone after a long, debilitating battle with a mental illness that destroyed the beautiful and so full of life Sarah Shepard. Not out of selfishness as his bastard father assumed. Eric winced inwardly. Would he introduce his son to the man that he hated more then anything he had hated before? Eric didn't know, for now, such things would not be thought about.

"Okay then." He finally spoke, nodding. "Sarah it is for a daughter."

Hannah smiled at his acceptance and rose her hand, taking his with her She leaned in and pressed her lips against his knuckles. Soft lips, the kind you wouldn't expect a navy puke to have. Eric pushed his hand through her frazzled hair and pulled back smiling as touch tingled his nerves.

"Go on and see him, Eric." She gently requested, gesturing to the door. "I'd get up, but Intern Chakwas would be all over my ass."

Hannah paused, then snorted.

"All over my ass... That bloody woman. I swear she was checking me out. Seriously, she really didn't need to keep all those fingers inside me for that long if I was just going to get a C-section... normally I'd be thrilled, but they were like bloody icicles." She pointed out, looking past her husband to make sure the woman hadn't heard her.

Eric shook his head. _aaaand_ there went the last of her post delivery angelic side. With one last kiss for his wife and a smirking smile, Eric pulled back and wandered out of the room, shaking his head at his wife's words.

Quietly he tiptoed into the improvised nursery. There stood Doctor Karen Chakwas, reading a chart and glancing occasionally downwards at the lone medical cradle, where tiny infant sounds were being made. Still tiptoeing, he stepped lightly next to the doctor and peered down. For the first time taking in his son.

He was bigger then he thought he'd be. He was making noise but not crying at the new cold sterile world he was introduced to. He was wrapped in blankets and a small blue hat. His eyes, wide and blue looked back and forth at all the new sighs. eventually, those eyes found Eric's, causing the older man to smile.

"Yes." He quietly spoke. "I think John suits you."

Doctor Chakwas turned quickly to face him, having been surprised by the young marine. Her shock and alertness disappeared as she noticed his Holo-Identification. She smiled brightly and offered the man her hand.

"Ah, you must be Eric. Hannah has been gushing about you since we first met four months ago." The young doctor spoke softly as though not wishing to disturb the baby anymore then Eric did. "Congratulations. He's a perfectly healthy specimen."

Eric shook the woman's hand blankly. Though his ears were paying attention to Chakwas' words. His eyes focused solely on his son as he shuffled under the weight of his baby blanket. Eric bit his lip his throat dry as he tried not to lose face in front of the doctor and his son.

"I...Thank you..." Eric managed to mumble to the doctor next to him. "Can I.. you know..."

He felt a small hand reach out, grazing against his back. Eric steely gaze at his son turned to focus on Doctor Chakwas, who smiled and nodded serenely. With a final rub on his back and a smile for John, Chakwas stepped out of the room, leaving father and son alone together for the very first time.

This also happened to be Eric's first 'I don't know what in the hell to do' moment as well, so he did what he thought was right.

With as much tender care as he had for practicing live bomb defusing, Eric leaned down over the medical cradle and wrapped his arms around the small infants bottom and the back of his head, immediately bringing the bundled child against his chest. The baby simply stared up at his father, his big blue eyes wide as he took in the new figure next to him.

Eric was never one to be speechless. This was definitely a time where he could not find the words to convey the overwhelming sensation of joy filling his heart. It took all his efforts not to break down in tears in front of his first born son. Though the baby would not be able to comprehend his father's emotions, Eric still felt like it was a very taboo thing to do. Instead of breaking down, he simply chuckled, his quivering lips forming the weakest of smiles.

"Hey there, big guy. I heard you're a troublemaker already. Barrel rolls inside your mother, are you kidding me, boy?" He spoke playfully to the infant. His son. "Just like your old man already."

All little John Shepard could do was blink, as though he was telling his daddy to shut up already. Eric exhaled a laugh. Like his mother, all John had to do was give him a funny look to make him lose control.

"So your mother and I decided on John, if you don't mind." Eric added, smiling as he begun to unconsciously rock his son back and forth. "I think it's going to suit you. If anyone gives you any grief over the name, I'll be there to protect you."

John gurgled, his feet kicking back and forth against his father's strong grip. Eric smiled at the fight in his son and leaned in. His lips pressing against John's forehead. John barked the smallest of squeals as he took in the new sensation, but did not cry out.

"I'll always be there to protect you, John." Eric spoke as he pulled his lips back. "I love you, son."

Those were not empty words spoken by a jubilant father, high on the new joy in his life. It was not a retractable promise. Eric would always be there for his son. From his son's first day of life to Eric's last days. He would be the father he wished he could have had. The father that John Shepard deserved. He would not fail him.

He would never fail him.

But... it was inevitable he would.

**...**

* * *

**...**

**ALL DONE!**

**This is, of course, not the last in a series. I have many ideas and holes left to deal with holes that will deal with what happened to Marhna and her brood during the Reaper war. This will not be the last you'll hear from Jürgen Metzger. He will be featured in two other stories as a central character and occasionally a walk on.**

**Those complaining about Karin Chakwas delivering John, I'm sorry. There is a reason why I have deemed my series as The Connection Series for a reason.**

**Thanks for reading!**


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